On Monday, December 13, when the American Israel Public Affairs Committee held its annual dinner in Oakland, a group of activists performed a flashmob inside the Marriott hotel to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall," addressing Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. Six Activists and one reporter were arrested:

Noura Khouri said, "It was worth the risk of arrest because AIPAC lobbies for money for war and occupation, money that could be used instead to fund schools and hospitals in our communities."

The activists have been charged with trespassing and are being held at the North County jail. After arrest, Janet Kobren was searched without consent by an Alameda sheriff.

While the flashmob occurred inside, activists gathered outside the hotel for a rally that was coordinated by a coalition of peace and justice groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, CODEPINK, and Students for Justice in Palestine, who joined together to protest the use of our tax dollars to fund apartheid and war on the Palestinian people. AIPAC lobbies annually for Congress to approve a $3 billion gift of military aid to Israel, much of which goes into demolishing Palestinian homes, uprooting thousand-year-old olive orchards, and pauperizing the people living in the Occupied Territories.

“While people in our communities are suffering in the worst economy since the Great Depression, we are outraged that some local politicians will still pander to a lobby that wants to divert billions of American tax dollars to enforce a brutal occupation in the Middle East,” said Jim Harris of Stop AIPAC.

A block from the protest, at the 12th Street BART station, the first posters in a new peace campaign just went up. These posters say, "Be on our side. We are on the side of peace and justice. End U.S. military aid to Israel." Protesters will hand out small card versions of the ads.

Berkeley Police are investigating a string of what detectives believe are connected armed robberies that have been occurring in North Berkeley since mid-November. In each of the five robberies, a suspect pointed a handgun at the victim and demanded their phones, wallets, and other valuable items, then fled on foot. All of the victims have described the suspect as a “black male, late teens to 30 years old with a thin build.”

BPD is combating these robberies through internal communication and crime analysis, a strategy that Police Chief Michael Meehan has improved upon since he became chief almost a year ago. Police have also increased the number of personnel working on the case both on the streets and behind the scenes, increased community awareness of the problem, and collaborated with other police forces, including BART police, UC campus police, and Albany police.

Communication between police and the community is key in enabling the police to solve cases like these. Berkeley police are hoping that citizens will call and report as many details as possible on robberies or on suspicious cars and individuals, and encourage people to employ crime prevention measures. Avoiding walking alone in the evenings and remaining aware by abstaining from using cell phones and music players helps to deter robbers.

The latest robbery occurred this Monday at 7:25 pm on California and Virginia Streets. Other potentially connected robberies have occurred since November 13th at Virginia and Franklin Streets, Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Hearst Street, Hearst and California Streets, and Lincoln and California Streets. Three occurred in the evenings, one in the morning, and one in the late afternoon.

I witnessed a violent mugging this evening on the F line, on the bus that left SF at 6:10 pm.

The 2 bus drivers I spoke to, the one who drove the original bus where the mugging occurred as well as the one who drove the bus the passengers were moved to, told me that there is a significant rise in muggings on the F line around the holiday season, and that there are many muggings during this season on buses that UC students are known to ride. They both are well aware of this phenomenon at least since last year!

There are no cameras on the buses. AC transit does have some buses with cameras, newer models, but the older models have no cameras on them and those are the buses that seem to be used by the F line.

I am asking that you apply pressure to make sure that all buses are quickly outfitted with cameras and that in the meantime the buses with cameras be moved to the lines that are well known to be targets in the coming weeks!

There is no justified reason to make this "business as usual" when the violence that I saw today could have been prevented or answered more effectively if the bus had a camera on it!

I am a UC Berkeley graduate student. I am addressing this e-mail to UC Berkeley, AC Transit, and two newspaper heads with the intention that you use your powers to address the violence that you have the power to prevent. I know what people can do when they work together to solve problems. I am sure you can think of much more effective ways to *end* this phenomenon; my camera suggestion is an obvious and effective way that I can offer as a bystander.

Parking, Iceland and city staffing were the main topics discussed at Tuesday's Berkeley City Council meeting, preceded by celebrations on behalf of returning councilmembers.

A large crowd of supporters gathered to cheer on the four recently re-elected Councilmembers as they were sworn in at this Tuesday night's regular City Council meeting. Linda Maio (District 1), Jesse Arreguin (District 4), Kriss Worthington (District 7), and Gordon Wozniak (District 8) stood at the front of the room and raised their right hands as the City Clerk read their oath of office.

Councilmember Worthington invited his partner to stand in front with him as he was sworn in “for the emotional symbolism, and for the true family values of having my family with me as I'm being sworn [in].” Many public commentators came to congratulate all of those who were sworn in, the vast majority of them directing their congratulations specifically toward Councilmembers Worthington and Arreguin.

After the swearing-in ceremony, the City Manager reminded residents that city administrative offices will be closed from December 23rd through January 3rd.

All of the non-agenda public comments addressed the problem of pedestrian safety at the intersection of Hearst and LeRoy, an issue that Kriss Worthington has supported. Councilmember Worthington referred the public comments and the associated report to the City Manager.

The entire Consent Calendar was unanimously approved after a few items were moved on or off of it.

One of the items that was moved to the Consent Calendar and consequently approved was East Bay Iceland's request to put off the hearing on Iceland's landmark status for one year. In November, 2009, East Bay Iceland appealed the City Council's decision of July 17, 2007 declaring the building a historical landmark, complaining that the restrictions of the landmark status make it difficult to sell the currently empty building. While some are still hoping that the ice rink will be restored, East Bay Iceland has signed a deal with The Sports Basement, Inc., and wishes to continue to hold over the public hearing on the landmark status until January 1, 2012. The next year will allow time for the applications for re-use of the building to be processed.

Other items passed on the Consent Calendar include the official re-appointment of Linda Maio as Vice-President of the Council for a term of one year, ending in December 2011. The revised Biennial Budget development calendar for FY 2012 and FY 2013 was approved, as well as an ordinance to accept a one-time $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Highway Administration Value Pricing Pilot Program, and an ordinance to apply for a $2 million grant for the Berkeley Transit Action Plan.

February, 2011 was designated National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, an ordinance sponsored by the Peace and Justice Commission. The City gave its co-sponsorship to the 27th Annual Telegraph Avenue Holiday Street Fair, which is coming up on December 11th, 12th, 18th, 19th, 23rd, and 24th from 11 am – 6 pm.

The Council also passed parts of Item 23, which had been pulled from the Consent Calendar, including the declaration of two meter holidays on Saturday, December 18th and Friday, December 24th, to encourage economic activity. The motion was approved by Councilmembers Maio, Moore, Anderson, Capitelli, Wengraf, and Wozniak, and voted against by Worthington, Arreguin, and Mayor Bates.

Other items passed included two items to extend the temporary employment of Jay Claiborne and Matthew Taecker. Claiborne is an un-benefitted half-time Senior Planner, and Taecker is a full-time Senior Planner. Continuing these temporary employees was opposed by the unions because the work they’re hired to do could instead be done by permanent employees who are union members, many of whom now have reduced hours. Claiborne and Taecker will plan the implementation of Measure R, which Berkeley residents passed this November. Councilmember Worthington alone opposed Taecker's extension. Worthington and Maio abstained on Claiborne's extension, while everyone else voted aye.

Berkeley City Council held a worksession this Tuesday night, hearing a budget update for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2011 and an assessment and action plan of the Berkeley Mental Health Division. No action was taken by the Council.

The big concern regarding the budget is that the city's reserves, typically maintained at at least 8% of the general fund revenue, have been reduced to 7%. The reserves are kept to cushion losses incurred from state and federal revenue losses, support city operations during emergencies, address one-time priority programs, and generally provide flexibility. Last fiscal year, $2.5 million was taken from the reserve to pay for a deficit in the general fund, the result of a continuing decline in revenue since the economic crisis hit.

To reduce expenditures, the City has instated a hiring freeze and “Voluntary Time Off” days (VTOs). VTOs are said to delay lay-offs from happening, but may not be a sustainable program for saving money, and additional cuts are likely to be necessary. VTOs are primarily affecting administrative and professional staff, but several programs are being affected. The senior center is closed on the fourth Friday of each month, and many offices used by residents are overcrowded before and after VTOs.

The Berkeley Mental Health Department is one of many programs being affected by the lack of funds. BMH serves 600 residents of Berkeley and Albany and provides MediCal services to all of Alameda County. The department currently owes the State $6 million, and is trying to become fiscally sustainable by reducing its expenditures by $2 million this Fiscal Year.

The report given to the Council, based on a study conducted by Management Partners Consulting, Inc. explained that the main goals of BMH are to internally reorganize staff resources and create a mutually beneficial contract with Alameda County. While state-wide, most public mental health systems are administered by counties, Berkeley Mental Health is operated by the City of Berkeley. It does not receive funding from the City of Albany, even though it serves 100 Albany residents.

Based on the demographic that BMH currently serves, there is concern that women, Latinos, and Asians may be under-served. Councilmember Worthington and one public commentator each expressed concern that, in reducing BMH's expenditures, many patients in need of care could be preemptively screened out.

In the midst of the financial troubles facing the Berkeley Mental Health Department, its employees are doing their best. Andy Belknap, the Regional Vice President of Management Partners Consulting, Inc., said of his experience studying the Department, “The caring and motivation of [Berkeley's] mental health employees would rank I'm sure in the top 1%. They really, really want to do a good job for their clients.”

Police are investigating an early morning armed robbery of a fast-food restaurant near the Berkeley-Albany border, police said. Officers responded to a 5:24 a.m. report of a robbery at 1198 San Pablo Ave., police said, which is the location of a McDonald's restaurant. According to a business listing on Yelp.com, this outpost of the restaurant chain opens at 5 a.m. on weekdays. No suspects were in custody as of 6:15 a.m., police said, and information about possible injuries was not yet available.

According to a report by television Channel 2, press release from Berkeley police early this afternoon, an armed gunman wearing a black ski mask locked employees into the restaurant's freezer before fleeing.

The police release continued:

"....a male suspect wearing a black ski mask and all dark clothing pointed a gun at a male employee who was preparing for the opening of the restaurant. The suspect hit the employee in the head with the pistol and forced the employee to hand over cash . The suspect then ordered that employee and three (3) other employees to get into the freezer. The suspect apparently left on food leaving a trail of cash in an alley north of the scene as he fled. The employees waited until they believ ed the suspect was gone then emerged to call 911. City of Berkeley Police department (BPD) officers responde d to the restaurant to tend to the employees as well as secure and manage the crime scene . The male employee sustained a laceration to the head that was treated at the scene by City of Berkeley Fire Department Paramedics. The injury was deemed minor. Due to the fact that the suspect was wearing a ski type mask, employee/witnesses were not able to provide a detailed description of the suspect.

Detectives do not believe that this robbery has any connection with any robberies of pedestrians that have happened in the City of Berkeley in recent weeks. Commercial robberies such as this one occur periodically in the City of Berkeley."

I want to put a little different twist than that of a CC Times article on the action taken by the City Council last night. I can’t speak for the rest of the Council, but the reason I voted to proceed to considering the Final EIR without additional alternatives is because the entire process of soliciting suggestions of alternatives from the public was fatally flawed. The sooner we put it to bed and move on, the better.

It was part of a motion by Councilmember Viramontes back in May of this year to extend the Land Development Agreement nearly a year. No one understood it then, and the results make it even more difficult to comprehend now. The consultant charged with evaluating alternatives was under contract to and paid by Upstream, which invalidated the entire process as being objective and above board. Furthermore, the consultant ignored a number of proposals, misinterpreted others and did a lousy job of evaluating those that were covered in the report.

Many who have been advocating alternative uses and have cultivated viable proposals refused to even participate in the process because it was so flawed. It’s the responsibility of the consultant preparing the EIS/EIR to adequately evaluate alternative projects and in the interest, it would seem, of Upstream to facilitate and encourage that. We know that the Draft EIS/EIR is incomplete and ridden with errors.

At this time, we don’t have any idea what is in the Final EIS/EIR, but City staff and Upstream do. If they want it certified, they will have to work hard to make sure it is complete and accurate. The idea that nothing but a pot farm or a casino is economically feasible at Point Molate is absurd. The Reuse Plan accepted by the City Council in 1997 called for a mixed use development that was evaluated and found to be feasible by an economic consultant. When the RFPs for Point Molate were released in 2003, seven developers responded with projects that did not include a casino. Presumably, they were prepared to proceed with a non-casino project.

When the City Council agreed to negotiate exclusively with one developer secretly selected by staff in late 2003, it turned out to be an amalgam of all seven, led by Upstream. Still there was no mention of a casino. It was only in late May of 2004 that the casino emerged as part of the project. A letter from Upstream to the City read in part:

Upstream is in the process of finalizing agreements to jointly develop Point Molate with one of the world’s leading operators of gaming, resort and entertainment facilities, including Indian gaming facilities (the “Gaming Partner”), and a landless Native American tribe with ancestral ties to Northern California (the “Tribe”).

It turned out that several councilmembers and a handful of City staff, mostly now gone, had been plotting to bring a casino to Richmond since at least 2002. Believe it or not, this was not even Upstream’s original idea. It was home grown in Richmond by several City Council members and City staff. So now we are being told once again that for jobs and revenue, it’s a casino or nothing. I don’t buy it.

The Berkeley-based Sustainable Business Alliance picked a stellar location for its December 3rd meet-and-greet — the Space Lounge of the Saturn Café, located at 2175 Allston Way — directly across the street from SBA’s home in the David Brower Center. More than 30 Bay Area green business leaders (and a couple of out-of-staters) assembled to swap stories and business cards while loading plates with mounds of organic salad, tasty entrees, slices of fruit and squares of desert bread.

Curious about the name of the new restaurant (the Saturn opened 5-6 months ago), The Planet asked SBA’s Executive Director Mark McLeod if the Saturn was somehow affiliated with the nearby Jupiter café. Just a coincidence, McLeod noted pointing out that the Downtown also has a restaurant called Venus. Taken together, these three restaurants constitute close to half-a-solar-system. Add the fact that Saturn’s location once housed the Good Earth restaurant, and there would seem to be some celestial magic at work here. (Another footnote: The location was also home to the original Ecology Center.)

Saturn Events Coordinator Jo Medeiros explained that the original Saturn Café, located in Santa Cruz, has been spinning out delicious vegetarian-cum-vegan meals since 1979. While cooking up an array of meatless burgers and fries (“American comfort food with a vegetarian twist”), the Saturn takes time to collect its trans-fat-free cooking oil so it can be transformed into biofuel. Both Saturns are designed to do double-duty as community centers for promoting environmental and social justice.

Medeiros explained that the art on display (“apron art” in the main seating area and an exhibit of “Food and Pornography” paintings by SpyGirlFriday that graced the walls of the Lounge) was for sale and that “100% of the sales price goes to the artists.” While not hosting community groups, the Space Lounge also serves up “live music, karaoke, burlesque, fashion shows, comedy improve nights and much more.” (Check the calendar for a current listing of events.)

Handouts at the event explained SBA’s goal of “a just and thriving green economy for the San Francisco Bay Area” and touted SBA’s triple bottom line:

• Promoting awareness of just and sustainable practices.

• Educating our members and the community on business sustainability.

• Networking to grow each others’ businesses and the green economy.

The “guest entrepreneur” at the Saturn luncheon was Jeff Lipton, President & CEO of Coyle Industries, Inc. Along with two partners, Lipton (who received his MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business) has devoted the past three years to the design of a portable solar generator that can be driven to remote locations where power is not readily available. The Coyle generator is mounted on a 900-pound trailer that can be hitched to a car and hauled into position by a single person.

Now that the company has produced prototypes of its solar-panel-on-wheels, Lipton’s new challenge is marketing his product to “private sector clients” and, he confessed with measured regret, “the military.” As Lipton explains it, “I am engaged in a ‘chicken and egg exercise.’ I have to have manufactured the product in order to show it and, before closing a sale, have to convince potential clients that they will soon be joined by many other purchasers, and that together we can grow the marketplace.”

In the coming year, the SBA will be hosting more of these unique entrepreneurial networking events with the expressed goal of “learning from and supporting each other through community and collaboration and strengthening our businesses through networking, educational programs and partnerships.”

Why would a Peruvian writer who has never been to Brazil set all his stories in Brazil? Is everyone in Chile a poet? And how could a journalist underground for six months in one of the worst sections of Medellín reject “poverty and violence” as a subject in favor of his neighbors’ and co-workers’ “happy life”?

These questions and many others were addressed by three young writers—the Chilean Carlos Labbé, the Peruvian Carlos Yushimito, and the Colombian Andrés Felipe Solano—at a panel discussion moderated by Peruvian writer Daniel Alarcón at the University of California on Monday.

The panel was sponsored by three U.C. organizations—the Center for Latin American Studies, the English Department, and the Transnational Working Group of the Townsend Center for the Humanities—as well as Granta, the British literary quarterly, which has devoted Granta 113 to “The Best of Young Spanish-language Novelists.”

Let’s start with Granta. Alarcón began by tossing out as absurdly broad and grandiose Granta’s suggested topic—“The Future of Spanish-language Writing”: he said it was “from London.” An audience member’s comment on the four-member all-male panel (“apparently there are no women writers in Latin America”) elicited a further critique by the panelists of the Granta special dual-language issue. Not only did only five women make the 22-name list but also omitted were any Caribbean writers and only one each was chosen from Central America and from Mexico. Sixty percent of the selected come from just two countries, Spain and Argentina—more than sixty percent, as Alarcón observed, since some of the non-Spaniards selected live in Spain.

Not only the still-long shadow of Europe, but also the heavy legacy of Latin America’s earlier (“Boom”) generation of world-renowned writers was a topic of intense discussion, particularly since three of the most famous—García Márquez, Vargas Llosa, and now Roberto Bolaño, enjoying a weird posthumous celebrity—are from the same countries as the three panelists, who all agreed that magical realism is “a wall,” Alarcón noting that not a year goes by without an imitation of an imitation of Márquez appearing in the U.S. Labbé was particularly concerned with the distinction between writing and the corporate product of modern publishing. Dan Brown is really Dan Brown Inc., he observed. But he felt that the burden of presenting a marketable “persona” fell particularly heavily on Latin American writers who, he said, have to be clowns, public persons, or gunfighters to get noticed. He pointed out that while in life Bolaño nurtured a quiet identity, he was introduced to American readers as a heroin addict.

Is this generation of Latin American novelists less political than its predecessors? All three panelists foreswore the kind of power hunger which Vargas Llosa (running for president) or García Márquez (cozying up to Castro) evince. The immiseration of their countrymen, however, and indeed of their continent, clearly lies heavily upon them—and Solano, in particular, wearing another hat, is also a prize-winning journalist. Nevertheless, all four writers (including Alarcón) insisted that, while they may be interested or active in politics as citizens, as writers of fiction they do not start from “themes,” as Solano said, while Yushimito stated categorically that literature has no political use. He said that “no books will change the world” and that he writes to affect the private life of the reader, sending “a message in a bottle.” Labbé, whose novels Alarcón described as “interactive demanding puzzles” (one is in “hypertext”!), said that he wanted his writing, not to impose a false clarity, but to express his own inner confusion, and that he makes the democratic assumption that every reader, being at least as intelligent as he is, can understand his work.

Despite such strong disavowals of political intent, the following statements and facts must be taken into consideration. Labbé declared that violence has been part of Latin American history since the Spanish invasion, and Yushimito observed that the main violence in Latin America is directed inward. Yushimito sets his stories in Brazilian favelas of the imagination because he finds it too painful to write directly of the plight of the poor in Peru. Solano does “not like” Bogotá, a city in which he “suffers, although not in a tragic way.” And Labbé describes Chile as a country in which there are hyper-rich and poor, but no middle class. He calls it also a “part of the U.S.,” since its economy was restructured in the 1970s by the Chicago Boys. In answer to a question from a Mexican student as to whether Latin Americans should come to the U.S. to study Latin American literature (as Yushimito is currently doing, pursuing a graduate degree at Brown), Alarcón eloquently described the plight of San Marcos, a public university in Lima and the oldest university in the Americas, now in ruins from financial neglect. Yushimito also mentioned that college graduates in Peru can expect to drive taxis.

Which is why, presumably, three of the four panelists currently live in the United States. Speaking, perhaps, as escapees, only steps ahead of a great destructive wave—of colonialism, neocolonialism, neoliberalism, and plain old-fashioned greed and arrogance—they are already only half Latin American and half citizens of the new world order, in which the market rules everywhere but also where colonialism’s “karma,” as Labbé remarked, insures that France is now part of Africa and the U.S. and Mexico are destined to become one entity. They spoke as messengers, in a sense, letting us know what is coming soon to us. What is already upon us, for as Alarcón said, he feared that in ten years time the University of California, where he is currently a scholar in residence, could resemble San Marcos.

Under such conditions—what the panelists referred to as “post-Boom” in the literary sense but which will serve just as well in other ways—one does not have to go looking for politics, for politics is already inside us, eating us from the inside out. The question for the writer, therefore, becomes how to find a sufficiently undamaged internal space from which to explore worlds both outer and inner, from which to send those creative and thoughtful messages in a bottle.

If you’d like to receive some, Daniel Alarcón’s stories (in English) are published in the New Yorker and elsewhere; his novel, “Lost City Radio,” is widely available. All three panelists are represented in Granta 113 (published in both Spanish and English); see granta.com/bestof for details. Andrés Solano’s novel, “Sálvame, Joe Louis” can be purchased from Amazon as can some criticism by Carlos Labbé. Otherwise, the would-be reader may have to go hunting.

Apparently , notwithstanding all the safeguards imposed by our city, cell phone companies like "T Mobile" can install antennas right smack in front of your living room without even a whimper of an objection.

Here is how it goes. Presumably on May 8 , 2010 "T Mobile" mailed a "Notice" to residents on Montrose Rd. in North Berkeley informing them that to improve cell phone reception they were to install an antenna and "associated " equipment on a PGE pole in the area. The closed folded single sheet "Notice" was sent bulk mail to "Owner" at various adresses on Montrose Rd. There was only a return address on the cover but no logo or name of "T Mobile" and it was sent bulk mail. As you and I would do in the circumstances, all but one resident sent it directly into trash. The only resident who opened it was away. Her daughter, taking care of her mail, kept it and it was saved. Since the "Notice" did not specify where the pole would be , the resident did nothing. Meanwhile hearing nothing from residents at Montrose Rd. , T Mobile" went ahead, selected a pole and obtained a construction permit. Then, on Wednesday November 24, just before Thanksgiving, "T Mobile" placed little folded sheets held with a rubber band on front doors on some Montrose residences. These indicated that a PGE pole situated in front of 140 Montrose Rd. would be fitted with an elevated cylindrical shroud (radome) and additional equipment cabinets and a meter. Work was to start the next Monday November 29, 2010 and continue until Wednesday December 1. Residents were enjoined to watch for no parking signs.

This time, 4pm Wednesday, a few of us finding these pieces of paper on our doors, began to be alarmed. E mails and phone calls were made but most of the City and Council staffs were already gone for the holiday. Since there were no " No Parking " signs visible neighbors parked their cars on Sunday night to keep away the invading construction crews. And we waited. Some response came from our District 5 Council representative and his able staff. For the moment , the construction trucks have not appeared and cars are mobilized each night to hold down the invaders.

What is fascinating here is that the selected pole is rotten, is located on a very narrow sidewalk so that it does not meet Title 24 requirements and it is as close as 30 feet from the living room of a Montrose Rd. resident . In addition, it is less than or about 50 feet from 4 other residences. Now it turns out, that these antennas entail the cylindrical shroud portion above and 3 large cabinets mounted on the side of the pole. Presumably the antennas are "safe" , they do not cause cancer, but they are noisy. They emit hum and other signals. The noise level is presumably within "tolerable" decibel level. What is impressive here is that "T Mobile" paid no or scant attention to proximity of the selected pole to residences nor did it consider the pole condition and location in the middle of a narrow sidewalk. It is also obvious that the City of Berkeley needs to establish some design guidance standards regarding the siting of antennas on utility poles. One would think that the condition of the pole, proximity to residences, and meeting state and local regulations and requirements should be included. These antennas may or may not be a health hazard, but at close proximity they are a visual and noise blight. As such, they certainly have an impact on property values. This is why we need clearer City planning standards.

This is not the greatest smackdown in the history of mathematics – the Newton-Leibniz debate over who invented the calculus ranks a tad higher – but it may surprise you that it is not even the first controversy involving mathematics and sex. While you may not have realised it when you were studying for your algebra finals, mathematics and sex have come together often.

The Oxford Murders, starring Elijah Wood and John Hurt, is perhaps the first film that would lead one to put the words "math" and "erotic" in the same sentence; but it follows a trend of portraying mathematicians as "sexy". The hit television show Numb3rs features a mathematician at an American university who has a beautiful graduate student named Amita Ramanujan. Dying for a love story, the writers fashioned a slowly building romance between the math professor and his student, despite my consulting colleague Tony's telling the writers that, in politically correct America, any such relationship would lead to the professor's dismissal.

In 2005, I received an email from a British producer, saying, "I am currently working on adapting a crime novel based in Oxford for a feature film." I knew the author of the novel: Guillermo Martinez had been a postdoctoral student when I was a graduate student. I knew the setting: the dreaming spires of the colleges as well as the squat, white building – the mathematical institute – set among them. I even recognised the people on whom the characters were based, including my advisor.

What I didn't recognise was the sex.

One scene of The Oxford Murders goes Pi steps further than Numb3rs. It features Elijah Wood and his character's beautiful Latina tennis partner vigorously undressing themselves and each other while simultaneously ruining the feng shui of the apartment, as well as devouring various items of food. The scene ends with the eruption of Mount Doom (although, thankfully, this time no one's fingers get bitten off).

In truth, graduate students in mathematics are more concerned with prime numbers than they are with primal instincts. I did not even kiss a girl until a full two years after I got my doctorate. When I was up late at night in my room at Oxford, as a first-year graduate student, I wasn't dreaming about that cute Zambian girl at Wadham College; I was wishing that if I could but solve Fermat's Last Theorem, I could die happy the very next instant, even if I told no one what I had done. Mathematics, though a predominantly male endeavour for whatever reason – is definitely not testosterone-fuelled.

There were some mathematics graduate students who did date, of course: I knew an Australian girl and an English boy who were a couple. But their relationship was decidedly – perhaps appropriately – platonic: once, in the tea room, I saw said English boy put his arm around aforementioned Australian girl, while both were sitting down on a couch. She looked at his hand, resting on her shoulder, lifted it up with her own hand, and set it back down again in a place where it was no longer touching her.

There is a noble lineage of brilliant mathematicians who probably never dated and who never married. The Hungarian mathematician Pal Erdős, one of the giants of the 20th century, found sex painful, conceding, "Basically, I have a psychological abnormality. I cannot stand sexual pleasure." He lived with his mother late into adulthood, and then travelled from university to university, homeless, for the rest of his life, an itinerant monk of mathematics.

Cambridge mathematician GH Hardy is also a member of this tradition. He once said that the "one romantic incident of my life" was his meeting with the Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Better put, Hardy's collaboration with Ramanujan was a ménage à trois with their mutual mistress, mathematics.

When I discovered that actor Stephen Fry and director Dev Benegal were making a film about Ramanujan, I arranged to meet with Benegal in New York. I told him that western audiences would want to see a love story. (Ramanujan's wife married him at the age of 10, so that wouldn't do.) Benegal would have to do something like make the Hardy "character" a woman, and then have a steamy scene where "Hardy" and Ramanujan were exploring each other's two-dimensional manifolds. The resulting movie would outrage many in India and probably spark a thermonuclear war – brilliant for ratings.

Of course, there are exceptions to the "No sex, please, we're mathematicians" rule: Danica McKellar co-authored a paper entitled, "Percolation and Gibbs States Multiplicity for Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models on Z-squared", wrote the bestselling book Hot X: Algebra Exposed, and also modelled lingerie for the men's magazine Stuff. (Full disclosure: she calls me "the incomparable, brilliant Jonathan Farley" in the acknowledgments.)

Mathematician Clio Cresswell even wrote a book called Mathematics and Sex and was named one of the 25 most beautiful people in Australia by the down under version of People Magazine – so beautiful, in fact, that she once vomited on a man, who then asked her out on a date. And an attractive, funny woman I met on an airplane told me that, once, she was so turned on by her calculus tutor that she walked over and planted a big wet kiss on him. The integral of the exponential function has that effect on some women.

But I would like to believe that, by and large, you don't find sexy mathematicians like those in Numb3rs, The Oxford Murders, or Rites of Love and Math, because mathematicians don't need sex: our holy enterprise of sorting truth from error, of dealing with what is at the foundation not only of what is, but of what must be, doesn't leave time for romance.

Ads calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, for the sake of peace and justice for both Palestinian and Israeli peoples, went up this week at three high-traffic stations in Bay Area Rapid Transit system: 12th Street Oakland, Downtown Berkeley, and San Francisco Civic Center. The ads, which will run for four weeks, are the first step in what's expected to be a broader campaign to bring the message to Bay Area commuters in the coming year.

The campaign was initiated by the Northern California Friends of Sabeel, the local branch of a non-profit, tax-exempt Christian ecumenical organization seeking justice and peace in the Holy Land through non-violence and education. The Bay Area chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and American Muslims for Palestine quickly signed on as co-sponsors.

"We are disturbed that our politicians spend billions of tax payers money to supply the Israeli war machine with lethal weapons to the detriment of both Israelis and Palestinians and the cause of peace," said Hassan Fouda, a member of the Northern California Friends of Sabeel and one of the organizers of the ad campaign. "If our fellow citizens know the facts, we are sure they will insist that the money is spent here at home."

The ads show two smiling fathers - one a Palestinian designer, the other an Israeli social worker - and their young daughters. The accompanying text reads "Be on our side. We are on the side of peace and justice. End U.S. military aid to Israel." Underneath is a URL - www.TwoPeoplesOneFuture.org - for a website with extensive information about the ad campaign, about conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and about the magnitude and effects of U.S. aid to the Israeli side.

The ad design and the website were developed by the Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP), a diverse Chicago-area community organization, which began running the ads in the Chicago transit system in October. The CJPIP was in turn inspired by a billboard campaign in Albuquerque, NM, last year.

According to the Congressional Research Service, Israel received $58.6 billion in military aid from the U.S. between 1949 and 2008, plus tens of billions more in other forms of assistance. Under an agreement signed in 2007, it is slated to receive another $30 billion by 2018, but President Obama recently offered billions more in a vain effort to induce Israel to limit construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory for just three months. The "Be on our side" media campaign aims to highlight the sad reality that all these billions have failed to bring peace, security, and equality for Israelis and Palestinians; instead, they have been used to perpetuate the hopeless cycle of death and destruction in the region.

For more information:

• on the overall "Be on our side" campaign, see www.TwoPeoplesOneFuture.org

• on the Bay Area campaign, see http://www.twopeoplesonefuture.org/about-us/related-projects/san-francisco-bay-area-ca/

• on the Friends of Sabeel, see www.fosna.org

• on American Muslims for Palestine, see www.ampalestine.org

• on Jewish Voice for Peace, see www.jvp.org

Opinion

Editorials

Liberal Negotiation. Only the best people do it. And the outcome inevitably is the worst.

All of my adult life I’ve participated in what is commonly called politics: that is to say, the attempt, often futile, to influence or even control the government(s) that organize or control our lives. Politics sometimes involves compromise, it’s true, but timing is everything.

I’ve never had any patience with the more-PC-than-thou attempt to define “liberal” as a pejorative, all the while the world becomes more and more Them vs. Us. Most of us around here most of the time are not confused about who Them is, and most of us therefore should also recognize that everyone else, liberal, progressive or radical, by definition is Us. But watching Us fall prey to Liberal Negotiation in action, time and again, is consistently frustrating.

We’re talking about President Barack Obama here, of course, who has lately provided a graphic illustration of Liberal Negotiation in action (or inaction). Liberal Negotiation is starting off the dialogue with major concessions in the hope that the Bad Guys will recognize your virtue and make spontaneous free will offerings of concessions of their own. It never works. Never.

Whole encyclopedias of clichés have been built to make this point: “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.” “We have met the enemy, and He is Us.” “Never lead with your chin.” Etc. Etc. Etc. But most of Us still hope deep down that those nasty sticks aren’t necessary, that virtue really is its own reward. Nope.

An ocean of virtual ink has been devoted by the chattering classes to their futile attempt to warn Obama not to quit before the battle is joined. Every opinion writer worth his or her salt—Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, Frank Rich, E.J. Dionne, Gail Collins, Eugene Robinson, Jon Carroll, even, mirabile dictu, the San Francisco Chronicle’s usually vapid anonymous editorial page—has admonished the Democrats to stand tough on the question of ending tax cuts for the super-rich. Everyone from Krugman on down thinks that the best posture is not to flinch first—to say that none of the tax cuts will be renewed, nohow, as long as the Big Bucks Boys benefit from the bill.

But the Dems still seem to be caving in record numbers, following their Fearful Leader.

Of course, this is partly because Democratic legislators in increasing numbers are themselves the super-rich. But even Dianne Feinstein, spouse of the plutocrat Richard Blum who has a finger in every lucrative pie, wrote an op-ed urging Obama to tax the very rich, though she does support all too many concessions for the loosely defined comfortable upper middle classes, who are not hurting the most in this economic crisis. Yet Obama has already announced that he’s bailing even on the topmost tier.

(For illustrative and comparative purposes local readers might recall the sorry history of Berkeley’s oft-aborted Downtown Area Plan. Some 22 good citizens and true took hours, days and weeks out of busy lives to create a “perfect compromise” on thorny development issues which passed by an overwhelming majority. No sooner had the ink dried on the agreement than the developer-dominated planning commission got to work on a new version which cheerfully accepted all of the concessions made by progressive DAP Advisory Commission members but repealed the ones which had been made by the other side.

But not satisfied with that, the developers’ poodles on City Council enacted an even more one-sided plan, which voters initially rejected in a referendum. Finally the builders’ claque on council, aided by big bucks from big property owners, came up with Measure R, heavy on motherhood and apple pie and short on specifics, which they hope will give them carte blanche to finally do what they wanted to do four long years ago, when the DAPAC was first convened. So none of the “Liberal Negotiation” concessions made long ago by DAPAC progressives seem to have done any good at all.)

The spectacle of Barack Obama bowing again and again to moneyed interests has horrified many of his erstwhile supporters. Excuses are offered by the kinder gentler folks among them, along with explanations drawn from sociology and psychology offered by some.

But regardless of motivational analyses, this is the point—today, not tomorrow or next week—when Obama needs to feel heat from the people who put him in office. Move On and Daily Kos are already at work organizing pressure campaigns based on online action.

Close to home, Congressman Jerry McNerney squeaked through one more time because of support from progressives outside his district, and he needs the many of Us in Barbara Lee’s district who contributed to his campaign to help him with a backbone transplant on this one.

It’s even possible—among Us, hope springs eternal, doesn’t it?—that this is all a calculated ploy to get Us to apply enough pressure to congressional Democrats and even to their president that they will have to comply. Good old Nancy Pelosi seems to be trying to Just Say No, and various and sundry congresspersons are demonstrating flashes of courage.

Perhaps Obama’s show of weakness, this Liberal Negotiation, is designed to appeal not to the heartless Republicans, but to the base, the people who voted for Obama and company two years ago, in the hope that We’ll rise up in revolt. Even if that’s not the case, it behooves Us all to act like it is, and keep the heat on this week.

Dan O'Neill

Joseph Young

Public Comment

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" The Chiefs of the Army, Air Force, and Marines -- old fogies all -- want to keep the "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy in spite of the Pentagon study showing negligible harm to U.S. military effectiveness if DADT is banned. Consider about 30 countries in the world, including nearly all of the NATO members, as well as South Africa, Brazil, and the Philippines that allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. And on May 16, 2010, representatives from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Israel, and the Netherlands met at the Brookings Institute to discuss how the militaries in those countries handled allowing gays and lesbians to serve in their militaries. The consensus was that, in spite of concerns before the change, when gays and lesbians were allowed to serve, it was a non-issue. Are our troops so undisciplined, ill-trained, and fragile that combat effectiveness will be harmed if DADT is banned? Let's give our military personnel more credit than that.

Ralph E. Stone

* * *

Lack of Free Speech at KPFA

Frankly called it's hard to make much sense of your editorial on KPFA. It reads sort of like you think the main problem at KPFA is that some of the folks there are out of lockstep with the standard Democratic Party "progressive" PC line. I guess those would be the "paranoids" you refer to. It's okay in America for the government to charge you with conspiracy as they do all the time in criminal cases, but, God Forbid, that you would charge them with same !

I was particularly appalled to hear of the protests against Dr. Gary Null, who has long been a voice of sanity on the Pharma-Psychiatry Complex as well as nutrition in general. I'm no AIDS expert but I have read two massive dissenting tomes, one by Duesberg of UCB. If he's really just a crackpot then debate him and expose him but he has long been blacklisted by the PC Stalinists at KPFA as they have with many other subjects including what has come to be called since the late 60s, the holocaust, Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, Austrian Economics, Murray Rothbard's Anarcho-Capitalism, questioning the rationale for WW 1 and WW2, not just the safe and popular Vietnam critique and the list goes on and on.

KPFA like so much of the American Left (and Right) has become predictable, boring, tired and stale. The old New Deal and Popular Front paradigms don't cut it anymore if they ever really did. The essence of stupidity is to keep doing the same things over and over again while hoping for a different result.

Michael Hardesty

* * *

Bob Burnett and "Real Men"

Columnist Bob Burnet,t writing in your 11/30 issue, urged President Obama not to "move to the right", as that would be a "wimp"y action not for "real men". Perhaps "real men", looking at the election's nationwide repudiation of the Obama regime's accumulation of debt, unemployment, big government, and loss of health insurance, might be able to open their eyes and minds to what would actually benefit the voters and taxpayers.

Where would we be if RAND military analyst Daniel Ellsberg hadn't released the Pentagon Papers in 1971? What if in 1972 FBI Associate Director Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat, hadn't contacted Woodward and Bernstein? What would the current headlines be if, in 2009, US soldier Bradley Manning hadn't begun the process of downloading military and political secrets onto a re-writable cd marked “Lady Gaga”? Forty years past Nam and Nixon, we live in the Information Age. We can email, tweet, upload HD video, and collaborate on online databases using “cloud”-based platforms. As information become more easily distributed, those in positions of power want to tighten their control on public truth through secrecy, deception, and intimidation. According to the Information Security Oversight Office, the federal government suppresses over 100,000 newly classified secrets every year. In 2009, the federal government created over 183,000 new secrets.

As monumental as the Iraq War logs and subsequent Cable-gate memos are, revealing more of the workings behind the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, Wikileaks is also an outlet for smaller, more regionalized political and corporate leaks. (Due to current events, the Wikileaks site no longer has a searchable database of older leaks.) UC Berkeley/LBNL was the subject of a leak in July 2009, when the Bevatron demolition plan was released via Wikileaks by an unknown source. The 42 page document, scanned as a pdf file, was marked as “proprietary information” and as a “controlled document” not to be distributed to the public. The documents release didn't get much attention, as Wikileaks had not yet gained notoriety, and few people realized the demolition plan was there. Now that Wikileaks is front page news, there is potential for a game changing leak to come out out from a UC or LBNL employee, or even a student with enough access to information.

A leak of memos between UCB/LBNL and BP would have a massive effect, giving a clearer picture of the relationship between them. Given how incorrect the UC's initial assessment of the oil spill was (the UC's report claimed that a incredibly substantial amount of the spill had been eaten by bacteria), we are left to wonder if BP put pressure on the UC to create a positive report. LBNL also does research which is intended to have military applications; a possible leak could give a glimpse of what type of projects are being developed. The lab's campus itself is an ongoing environmental clean-up site, and a leak could better inform the public as to the state of the hillside.

The UC Berkeley campus is not without its own intrigues. Memos regarding John Yoo, especially anything from or to the Department of Justice, could help explain why the university continues to defend the torture advocate. Documentation of animal research, could expose abuses in the testing labs. A leak might reveal the political deals and lobbying behind the $321,000,000 stadium renovation, or the $125,000,000+ gym. UC Berkeley's police have been in recent news for failing to investigate citizen allegations of police abuse; a leak could explain how the police force is allowed to operate sans oversight and regulation. A leak could help expose the police's pattern harassment of student protesters. A leak from the office of Alameda County DA Nancy O'Malley's office in regards to UC police abuse would be a real game changer.

Those that leak secrets are often subject to retaliation. It takes courage to come forward and expose corruption. Bradley Manning sits in jail for releasing allegedly damaging information, even though the leakers of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity never faced appropriate scrutiny. Julian Assange finds himself accused of some nebulous sex crime, despite the vague charges having been previously dismissed as baseless. There are those calling for Assange's extradition to the US to face charges for his role in directing Wikileaks.

For years, the UC system had fought against their employees' right to report abuse and fraud. In a 2008 court case, the UC argued and won against LBNL employee Leo Miklosy, who was trying to sue for damages due to retaliation after reporting safety violations at LBNL in 2003. Another employee, Luciana Messina, was forced into resignation after filing an accompanying complaint to Miklosy's. On July 16 of 2010, UC employees gained whistleblower protection, through SB 650 authored by Leland Yee. However the limits of that protection cannot be seen until someone steps forward with a new leak.

The general public has its right to secrets: their medical history, sexual eccentricities, library history, et cetera. Corporations and Public agencies, and in certain instances individuals within them, do not have that same right to privacy. The organizations that provide the basics of our society must be open about the truth so the public can make informed decisions in our lives. Given the vast information gap between the public and those in power, whistleblowers provide an essential service by keeping public informed. There are a number of platforms a UC leaker could use: Wikileaks, Indybay or a number of social media sites. Rising tensions in the UC over layoffs, cuts and fees increase the chances of there being at least one major leak from within the university in the coming year.

We know that many KPFA listeners and staff have had questions about the financial crisis facing KPFA. Over the past five years KPFA has suffered a 27% drop in annual income -- including a 30% decline of more than a $1.2 million in annual listener support. Since 2007 KPFA has lost almost $1.5 million overall.

KPFA cannot continue to operate with these deficits as the station's reserves are now exhausted. As a result, KPFA regretfully was forced to reduce its paid staff early last month by nine employees, or about 4.45 full-time-equivalents as many of our staff work part-time hours. Seven production, technical, administrative and management staff members took voluntary severance, and the two hosts of the Morning Show were laid off. This reduction in paid staff followed many months of discussions and was carried out in accordance with the terms of the union contract. The cuts were a difficult but necessary step toward financial stability.

We also know that many of you have been disappointed by the temporary hiatus of the Morning Show while we sought ways to produce the show in our difficult financial circumstances. We expect to announce an exciting new live Morning Show lineup for the 8-9 am hour very soon.

Beginning Monday, December 6th, we'll be airing Al-Jazeera English news at 6 am, Democracy Now! at 7 am, Uprising from KPFK at 8 am, and Democracy Now! will be rebroadcast at 9 am, followed by Letters From Washington at 10.

While layoffs are painful and programming changes are difficult, we remain committed to the visionary founding mission of Pacifica – to provide news and information not commonly available elsewhere, to explore and understand the causes of conflict, to help bring about a lasting understanding between peoples of all races, creeds and nations, and to provide an outlet for the cultural expressions of our community.

We cannot do this without you. KPFA needs all of us – listeners, staff and management – to pull together to help KPFA through this critical financial crisis. The station cannot continue without your generous support. We have scheduled a 4-day fund drive for mid-December. Kindly consider doubling your contribution to KPFA this year.

Finally, a personal apology to Becky O'Malley of the Berkeley Daily Planet for my failure to return her phone calls. In the press of events, somehow I did not receive her phone messages.

I read your editorial on KPFA [last week]. Aside from your gratuitous swipe at Tom and us old lefties (of which Tom is not one), I thought it was an excellent picture of the confusion that the casual listener/supporter may have when hearing of the fighting and turmoil at KPFA. It is a valuable lesson for those of us wrapped up in the infighting!

Let me see if I can step back a little and answer some questions you, and others like you, may have. I will really try hard to stick to facts, eschew adjectives and not spout opinion wherever I can. Full disclosure, I am a newly elected member of the KPFA local board, and a member of the SaveKPFA slate. Thus, I have an obvious bias, but I will strive mightily to be objective.

Yes, KPFA is in financial straits. That is mostly the fault of the economic downturn, though the local board and station could have done more to raise funds off-air and cut costs. But, it is what it is, and crying about the past won't get us very far. So, what to do about that, and who should be involved in the decisions? And what has been done so far, why, and by whom?

Some cuts must be made. Everyone agrees on that. The first step was voluntary buy-outs of personnel; that was done. After that, the two sides differ widely. Our side, SaveKPFA (SKPFA), proposed a budget derived from management and staff that would have necessitated laying off 2-3 staff (or the equivalent). The local board approved that budget. The other side, Independents for Community Radio (ICR), supported a budget that would require far more staff layoffs. Everybody wants the station to survive. Pacifica Foundation, the parent organization, adopted the ICR-supported budget for KPFA without any examination of the alternative budget. ICR had, until the last election, a majority on the local board, and has a majority on the Pacifica board. The SKPFA-supported budget called for Pacifica to share the financial burden with KPFA: reducing the cost of national meetings, crediting KPFA for the value of the rent of the Pacifica offices in the KPFA building (like Pacifica does for KPFK in Los Angeles for the Pacifica Archives), and allowing KPFA several years to repay money ($100,000-150,000) owed to the foundation rather than requiring it be paid in one year. It should be noted that, as a long range matter, Pacifica owes KPFA almost $1.5 million, and KPFA recently lent Pacifica money for the Washington station that has not been repaid.

The Pacifica Executive Director, Arlene Engelhardt (AE), has commenced actually running KPFA in effect, at least as far as finances, programming and personnel are concerned, entirely cutting the interim General Manager and Assistant General Manager out of the loop in this area. As a first step, AE eliminated the Morning Show staff, firing the two on-air hosts Aimee Allison and Brian Edwards-Tiekert) and the crew. That show, with those hosts, brings in the most money of any show, more than three times the total cost of the show. Those hosts and crew are being paid through December 8 but were taken off the air on November 9, and not allowed to work despite their willingness to do so. That show has been replaced with a feed of programs from Los Angeles (KPFK). At the time the Morning Show was removed from the air, AE has said she will replace the Morning Show with new hosts within 10 days, but so far -- more than three weeks later -- has not.

The union representing the fired employees has grieved the firings as violations of the union contract; Pacifica has denied that and has hired an anti-union firm to represent it (at an additional charge to the KPFA budget).

AE canceled a two day fund drive scheduled for November without explanation, and without an alternate source of fund raising for KPFA. Brian Edwards-Tiekert is one of the more successful fund raisers for the station. A fund drive was scheduled for mid-December, but no planning for it has been done. And AE has done nothing to raise money off-air, despite a budget adopted with her support that was based on the expectation of significant monthly contributions from major donors.

There are many other issues -- and accusations -- dividing the "sides," but I hope I have listed the main points that non-participants would notice and care about.

From the facts recited above, the following questions may be asked:

1. Could not there have been some compromise over the budget decisions? I.e., how much actually needed to be cut? How much should Pacifica have contributed to the shortfall, in view of the much greater sum that Pacifica owed KPFA over a long period? 2. In deciding what to cut, did the show bringing in the most revenue need to be the first target of the axe? Did the union contract require that step? 3. What happened to the principle of local control? Why is AE making all the decisions without the input of local management? 4. Why are we now without local programming in the key morning hours (7-9a.m.)? 5. What happened to the November fund drive in a time of financial turmoil for the station? And why is there no planning for a December drive? It's almost as if AE wants to lose more money and make more cuts to the station personnel.

I'm sure there are proposed answers to these questions; but there will be answers to the answers. I will leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions.

I am an 83 year old woman and a member of a genetic-Alzheimer's family. In my lifetime I am aware of nine family members who have been victims of AD, the last four in my generation.

In the 20 years since an autopsy specified my mother's AD, dementia- research has mostly consisted of the very limited success of pharmaceutical trials. This tunnel-vision has resulted in my family's continuing tragedies.

Currently, researchers are reportedly seeking new ways to identify pre-symptomatic members of such genetic families. They are searching for methods to identify those at high-risk, who are not yet experiencing cognitive impairments, so as to test "preventive" medications or life-styles.

This testing is awaiting procedural determination, but there is no need of evaluating pre-clinical subjects, when critical diagnostic testing and histories already exist for those who have been diagnosed, or will be diagnosed, with dementia!

There could be an unlimited number of study participants; families like mine that are desperate to find answers. Incredibly, current tests are now uncovering conditions that may be causing or aggravating cognition, without the further knowledge of probable linkage to COMMON causes.

True causes and preventives of dementia would undeniably emerge in the comparative histories of millions of patients. A "National Registry" using instant computerized technology can provide the imperative missing evidence, and a vital public-reference for genetic links and statistics.

The factors rightly being researched are "nutritional, pharmaceutical, toxic and environmental, genetic, social/economic, behavioral, medical (such as other neurodegenerative diseases and pathologies). The lack of volunteers that has been noted by the researchers as their greatest obstacle, is easily overcome if dementia evaluations become comparable statistics.

A diagnostic framework and guiding terminology can be created, to organize categories, stages, and the ongoing global study of brain disease, but can the historical impediments of our political and pharmaceutical limitations finally be overcome?

Columns

Two images came to mind as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union began systematically dismantling what is left of the shattered Irish economy. One was a photo in the

New York Review of Books of an abandoned, up-scale house in County Leitrim, a casualty of the 2008 housing bubble. The other, an 1886 conversation about the aftermath of the 1845-47 potato famine between Sir Wilfred Blunt and the Bishop of Confert at Anghrim, the site of Ireland’s last stand in the rising of 1688.

“They call it the last battle, but this is not true, for the battle has gone on ever since,” the Bishop told Blunt. “Look at those great grass fields, empty for miles and miles away. Every one of them contained once its little house, its potato ground, its patch of oats…and where are they now? Engulfed in Liverpool, London, New York…and all for making a few English landlords rich.”

Substitute “banker” for “English” and one has to conclude that Karl Marx didn’t have it quite right: in Ireland history repeats itself the second time as tragedy, not farce.

Historical analogies are tricky, but the potato famine and the current economic crisis have parallels that are hard to ignore. In both cases the contagion was foreign born. The 1845 fungus—Phytophthora infestans— came from Mexico via Boston and the Netherlands. The 21st century bubble came from Wall Street and Bonn (German banks are Ireland’s largest creditors). And in both cases the devestation was a result of conscious policy choices by the powerful.

A little history.

The 1845 fungus pretty much killed every potato in Europe, but only in Ireland was there mass starvation. Because only in Ireland had there been a conscious colonial policy to encourage population growth. Ireland in 1845 had about 10.8 million people, more than twice what it has today. Population density meant a desperate competition for land, which, in turn, kept rents high. Places like rural Connaught had a population of 386 persons per square mile in 1845, considerably denser than England’s. The vast bulk of that population—78 percent to be precise—was dependent solely on the potato for subsistence.

The other great advantage of a high population was taxes, which were increased 170 percent from 1800 to 1849. During the same period they fell 11 percent in England. “Over-taxation is not an accident,” remarked Marx, “It is a principle.” He had that one right.

When the blight struck, this entire edifice collapsed. No one really knows the final butcher’s bill, but between 1841 and 1851 the population plummeted from 10.8 million to 6.2 million. About a million of these emigrated, though many of those died enroute—the ship Avon lost 236 out of 552; the Virginius, 267 out of 476—or when they arrived. Of the 100,000 Irish that immigrated to Canada in 1847, 40,000 died within the first month. How many starved at home? Maybe three million? Maybe more.

The exodus today is smaller, but about 65,000 left last year, and the estimate for 2010 is 120,000. There won’t be mass starvation, but the IMF-imposed austerity package will slice deeply into social services, battering Ireland’s unemployed. Tens of thousands are being evicted from their homes while more than 300,000 houses stand empty, like the one in Leitrim. This time around there will no be cottages filled with corpses as there were 163 years ago, but in the months to come there will be plenty of homeless and hungry.

Ireland’s economy in 1845 may have been unsustainable for the many, but it was quite profitable for a few. There was even plenty of food produced during the famine, but it went to the landlords. In 1847 crops worth 45 million pounds sterling were exported, including hundreds of tons of wheat, barley, and oats, along with cattle, butter and cheese. While the Irish starved, those responsible for their condition drank, ate and made merry.

Jump ahead to 1990.

As a new and “disadvantaged ” member of the European Union, Ireland was subsidized to the tune of nearly 11 billion Euros. In a small country that’s a lot of money. With its highly educated, English-speaking population, proximity to Europe, modest wages, and the lowest corporate tax rate in Europe—12.5 percent—Ireland was the ideal place for multinationals like Pfizer and Microsoft to take up residence. The country’s debt was low—12 percent, one quarter of Germany’s—with good social services. Thus was the “Celtic Tiger” born.

Then came the blight.

Bankers and moguls, allied with Irish politicians, saw a chance to make a killing in real estate. From 1999 to 2007, bank loans for real estate and construction rose 1,730 percent, from 5 million Euros to 96.2 million Euros, more than half the GDP of the island. “It was not the public but the private sector that went haywire in Ireland,” says Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf.

House prices doubled and mortgage holders routinely paid out a third of their income to service loans. The politicians manipulated the tax structure to make it easier for developers to avoid taxes and fees, all the while subsidizing speculators with billions of Euros. “The lines between thievery and patriotism, between the private advantage and the national interest, became impossibly blurred,” says Fintan O’Toole in “Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption sank the Celtic Tiger.”

Ireland went from a small but dynamic economy to one dominated by an enormous bubble, its banks laden down with bad debts, its financial institutions vastly overextended.

When Wall Street melted down, sparking off a worldwide recession, the bubble popped, the edifice collapsed, and Ireland’s debt rocketed to 32 percent of GDP. And, like in 1845, it was the little who people took the hit. O’Toole estimates that Irish taxpayers shelled out $30 billion Euros to rescue the Anglo-Irish Bank, essentially the entire tax revenue for 2009. While the banks got a bailout, the Irish got savage austerity.

Joblessness is at 14.5 percent, 24 percent for young people. Personal income has declined more than 20 percent. Welfare benefits are due to shrink between 4 and 10 percent, and public sector wages from 5 to 15 percent. The Irish will be looking at a decade of lower wages, fewer services, regressive taxes, and record joblessness in an economy burdened with repaying an 85 billion Euro ($113 billion) IMF/European Union “bailout” at an onerous 5.83 percent interest rate. Of course “bailout” is a misnomer: The package is little more than a slight of hand that shifts private debt onto the shoulders of the public.

But the Irish are not famous for being quiet. Workers in Waterford seized their factory last year. In early November 25,000 students wearing t-shirts proclaiming “Education not Emigration” descended on the Dail, Ireland’s parliament, to oppose increases in student fees. And tens of thousands of trade unionists, led by pipe and drum bands, marched up historic O’Connell Street late last month carrying slogans reading, “It’s not our fault, we must default,” “Eire not for sale,” and “IMF out!” In a recent by-election in Donegal, the leftist Sinn Fein Party shellacked a government candidate. The government, says Sinn Fein President Jerry Adams, “Has no mandate to negotiate such terms and impose such a burden on the ordinary taxpayer.”

It will not be the last defeat for the Fianna Fail/Green Party governing coalition. The government’s “bailout” is specifically designed to fall on the needy. While 17.5 billion Euros will come out of the National Pension Reserve Fund, bondholders and banks will go untouched. Even the Financial Times was moved to condemn the “ongoing transfusion of wealth to those who recklessly financed the country’s real estate bubble.” Fianna Fail and the Greens will pay come the next election. But that may be too late if the government rams the “bailout” through, thus setting the plan in stone.

Like the 1845 blight, the financial contagion is spreading. Spain and Portugal are on the ropes, and Italy is in deep trouble. This time around the Irish will have plenty of company in their misery.

However, there is a way out that doesn’t involve inflicting enormous pain on millions of people who had nothing to do with causing the crisis:

1) Reject the pact or, if it is approved, repudiate it following a general election.

2) Dump the Euro and go back to a currency under Irish control. The Euro’s days are likely numbered in any case.

3) Suspend home evictions and put through a jobs bill.

4) Renegotiate the debt with the “Argentina option” in the wings: Argentina was caught in a debt crisis in 2001 and subjected to a barbaric IMF-imposed austerity plan. The Argentines told the IMF to lump it, declared bankruptcy, and successfully rebuilt their economy.

Of course the bankers and the IMF will scream like the banshees, but that would be music to Irish ears.

For other writings by Conn Hallinan go to dispatchsfromtheedgeblog.wordpress.com

On the short list of Books That Ruined My Life, Wild America ranks high. Published in 1955, it’s the jointly written account of a birding trek by Roger Tory Peterson, of fame guide fame, and his colleague James Fisher around the perimeter of North America: from Newfoundland down the Atlantic Coast, down into the Mexican tropics, across the Southwest and up the Pacific Coast, fetching up in the Pribilof Islands. I got hold of it when I was about ten and trapped in Little Rock, and it struck a chord.

Damn, I wanted to do that! Exotic places like the Dry Tortugas and Monterey, birds that weren’t even in my Eastern Peterson guide…

Scanning the book now, it’s a kind of pre-Interstate idyll: gas was cheap, locals tolerant, and Peterson and Fisher had an extensive network of friends happy to put them up and show them the good stuff. It was On the Road with birds, and it affected me a lot more than Kerouac (or Steinbeck or Least Heat-moon) ever did. Eventually Ron and I did our own circumcontinental birding trip, minus Mexico and Alaska, although we didn’t get a book out of it.

The Peterson-Fisher quest was one of the first birding Big Years, an exercise which involves observing and identifying as many bird species as you can within some agreed-on boundary within a calendar year. Much later, Kenn Kaufman documented his own Big Year in Kingbird Highway. Kaufman’s was a much lower-budget operation: he hitchhiked a lot and at one point was reduced to eating dog kibble.

The latest iteration of the naturalist’s-road-trip book is Mariposa Highway by Robert Michael Pyle. Pyle is a well-known butterfly aficionado (the equivalent to “birder” is “butterflier”), author of a slew of field guides and memoirs, and a founder of the Xerces Society, the first organization dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates. Pyle also co-edited a unique book called Nabokov’s Butterflies, which lets you go straight to the butterfly passages of Lolita et al without wading through all the sex and nostalgia. (I admit to a weakness for Nabokov, who was always, for various reasons, one of those writers I was not supposed to like.)

Pyle’s hook in Mariposa Highway is the first Big Year for butterflies. In 2008 he crisscrossed the continental United States, with sorties to Alaska and Hawai’i. (I believe that under American Birding Association rules, Hawai’ian birds can’t be counted for Big Year purposes. Either butterfly people are more flexible or the guidelines haven’t had time to crystallize yet.) He identified a total of 478 species, plus another dozen likely but unconfirmed.

It’s a good read, although it may help to have some predisposing interest in butterflies. I needed to keep a butterfly field guide handy, since the book is sparsely illustrated (endpapers only). Still, Pyle gives vivid descriptions of his hairstreaks, coppers, fritillaries, and blues, and the landscapes in which he encountered them.

I had to keep reminding myself that this guy is just about my age. I couldn’t romp around the alpine tundra the way he does, or stay awake for the marathon drives. He seems to have a nose for good beer, having discovered the juniper-flavored 395 IPA from somewhere east of Tioga Pass a couple of years before I did. On the other hand, he is one of those people who give names to inanimate objects. All three of his nets have names, as does his long-suffering Honda Civic and his rental vehicles.

Pyle admits to good days and bad. He misses local rarities, like the Behr’s parnassian in the High Sierra and the Kamehameha on Kaua’i. His nets break, his glasses break, he leaves a yogurt container of irreplaceable voucher specimens in a bar and has to retrieve it from a dumpster. Back in Washington State, his wife is going through heavy-duty cancer treatment. Naturally, some guilt is involved.

Like Peterson and Fisher, Pyle depends on the kindness of colleagues. San Francisco butterfly maven Liam O’Brien takes him to the prime coastal green hairstreak and mission blue sites. Butterfliers, on the whole, appear to be congenial folks.

Big Years, avian or lepidopteran, may contribute to our knowledge of distribution, documenting range shifts and extralimital strays. Mostly they’re stunts, indulgences. But what a magnificent indulgence this was!

Imagine you live in the suburbs and the residence next door is sold. The new owners raze the old cottage, build a McMansion and party 24/7. The neighbors complain about the noise but nothing is done until the house is trashed. Then your city council declares the dwelling a hazard and demands that you and your neighbors clean it up. Unfair? Of course, but that’s what has happened in the US, where the rich and power had a decades-long party and trashed the economy. Now Republicans want average citizens to pay for the repairs.

Recently New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an emotional column National Greatness Agenda imploring Americans to come together and fight for our country. Why? The deficit: because the US is “careening toward bankruptcy.” Not surprisingly, conservative Brooks has swallowed the conservative orthodoxy hook, line, and sinker. He thinks our big problem is the US deficit. But it’s not.

The real problem is that our economy was broken by thirty years of failed Republican economics. During the Reagan presidency conservative ideology began to dominate American political discourse: helping the rich get richer would inevitably help everyone else, “a rising tide lifts all boats;” markets were inherently self correcting and therefore there was no need for government regulation; and the US did not need an economic strategy because that was a natural consequence of the free market. As a consequence, America’s working families were abandoned in favor of the rich. Good jobs were shipped overseas. Inequality rose as middle class income and wealth declined. Corporate power increased while unions were undermined. CEO salaries soared but fewer families earned living wages. Then the Bush Administration cut taxes while initiating an unnecessary war in Iraq. It was thirty years of economic ineptitude.

Republicans fractured the US economy because they forgot an elemental truth: our economic heartbeat requires steady consumption by working Americans not the random largesse of the rich. Now, confronted with the consequences of their bad judgment, the GOP wants us to focus on the massive deficit and not consider what caused the crisis.

What David Brooks and other conservative columnists are afraid to admit is that the Reagan Administration initiated a thirty-year-long war on Democracy. During the Bush administration, Plutocrats won and built McMansions. But the victory of corporate CEOs and Wall Street money grabbers left the American economy in shambles. Now Republicans want average Americans to pay to fix it.

Many Americans don’t understand this outrage because conservatives have seized the economic message initiative and wrapped it in the sacred mantle of bipartisanship. Well-meaning folks like NoLabels.org want Americans to come together and shovel money into the deficit pit. Most of the political air space is dominated by faux deficit hysteria.

David Brooks and other deficit hawks ignore a commonsense rule: in order to solve a problem, you have to first understand what it is. The deficit isn’t the problem; it’s a symptom. The problem is that America doesn’t have enough decent jobs. If more Americans had good-paying jobs then our economy would be healthy and we’d be generating enough tax revenue to erase the deficit. (The same conclusion was reached by members of the Citizens’ Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America’s Economic Future.)

So what should we do? Conduct radical surgery on the economy.

First, there has to be a massive redistribution of income by increasing taxes on both the wealthy and corporations – particularly financial institutions that profited from 2008’s financial meltdown. The guys who built the McMansions should pay for the repairs. That’s why it’s ludicrous to continue Bush-era tax cuts for the rich.

Second, there has to be another stimulus package that not only supports America’s teachers and public safety workers but also strengthens the US infrastructure, in general. For a period, Government needs to become the employer of last resort in order to retrain workers and pump money into the economy, motivate working Americans to consume again. This is why Congress has to extend unemployment benefits for those whose eligibility has lapsed.

Third, the Federal government has to be involved in economic policy. The last thirty years has demonstrated that the free market follows the path of least resistance and dictates economic policy solely based on greed. Creating wealth for a handful of CEOs isn’t consistent with the national interest. What are needed now are economic policies that produce decent jobs for average Americans.

Finally, and most important, Liberals must seize the message initiative. Conservative columnists like David Brooks have negatively impacted millions of Americans. Liberals have to take back the political narrative and tell the truth about what’s wrong with the economy and what political action is needed.

It’s time to talk common sense to Americans. The conservative politicians and rich folks who broke the US economy should pay to fix it.

For generations the farmers of India have sown their seeds, putting aside enough seeds for next year's crop. The women are usually responsible for safeguarding these seeds. Then along came Monsanto.

Monsanto has patent rights over the bacillus thuringiensis cotton gene (or Bt Cotton), which is used as insecticides, and more recently to genetically modified crops. In November 2009, however, Monsantoscientists found that the pink bollworm had become resistant to Bt cotton in parts of Gujarat, and in four other regions in India, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagarh and Rajkot. In other words, Bt cotton is no longer effective at killing this pest.

In 1998, the World Bank's structural adjustment policies forced India to open up its seed sector to global corporations like Monsanto. Monsanto in turn has sublicensed its Bt cotton gene to other companies. Monsanto collects huge amounts of money as a royalty from these companies. Monsanto changed the cotton economy of India overnight. While Monsanto pushes the costs of cultivation up, subsidies to agribusiness drive down the price Indian farmers get for their produce. Saved seeds were replaced by corporate seeds which needed fertilizers and pesticides and could not be saved because they were hybrid seeds and saving is prevented by Monsanto's patents.

The promise of increased crop yields has not materialized. For example, the farmers’ yearly costs for genetically modified seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, electricity, water and labor continue to rise, while the price of cotton has been declining coupled with decreased productivity and quality. Scant rainfall last year exacerbated the crisis, giving rise to drought-like conditions, not favorable for the genetically modified seeds, which require twice the amount of water compared to traditional seeds. The absence of irrigation facilities has made matters worse.

Poor peasants have to buy seed for every planting season. Seed, which was once free, now became a commodity which farmers were forced to buy every year, leading to increased poverty and indebtedness to moneylenders. As debts became unpayable, farmers were forced to sell kidneys or even commit suicide.

Since 1997, more than 200,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide and the numbers continue to rise. According to a recent study by the National Crime Records Bureau, 46 Indian farmers kill themselves every day -- or roughly one suicide every 30 minutes – an alarming statistic in a country where agriculture is an economic mainstay. And this probably underestimates the number of suicides as women farmers are not normally accepted as farmers (by custom, land is almost never in their names). They do the bulk of work in agriculture - but are just "farmers’ wives." This classification enables the government to exclude countless women farmer suicides. They will be recorded as suicide deaths - but not as "farmer suicides." Of course, farmer suicide has other causes, but most experts agree that indebtedness is one of the main factors. Farmers unable to repay loans and facing spiraling interest often see suicide as the only solution.

This India suicide economy does not have to be inevitable. Navdanya has started a "Seeds of Hope" <www.navdanya.org> campaign to stop farmers’ suicides. (Navdanya is a network of seed keepers and organic producers spread across 16 states in India.) The transition from seeds of suicide to seeds of hope includes:

* a shift from Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) and non-renewable seeds to organic, open pollinated seed varieties which farmers can save and share;

* a shift from chemical farming to organic farming; and

* a shift from unfair trade based on false prices to fair trade based on real and just prices.

The farmers who have made this shift are earning 10 times more than the farmers growing Monsanto's Bt-cotton.

"When a peasant plants a seed, he says a simple prayer, ‘Let the seed be exhaustless, let it never get exhausted, let it bring forth seed next year.' Farmers have such pride in saying, 'This is the tenth generation seeds that I am planting' or 'this is the fifth generation that I am planting.' But Monsanto has changed this prayer with one of its own, 'Let the seed be terminated so that I can make profits every year.' Monsanto's terminator technology’s aim is to prevent seed from germinating."

The movie “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” has shaped how mentally ill people are perceived by a generation of Americans. In one of that movie’s final scenes, the main character, played by Jack Nicholson, has received either a lobotomy, or else massive electroshock treatment (It is not clear which) and has become essentially a vegetable. The big, Native American character (who, for most of the movie pretended to be unable to speak) mercifully smothers the protagonist to death with a pillow, and then rips a fixture out of the floor, hurls it through a window—and then runs away, presumably to live as a “normal” person.

One perception fostered by this movie (and the book on which it is based was written by an ex psychiatric patient) is that electroshock, also known as ECT, turns a person’s mind into silly putty. Coincidentally, the patient’s rights movement, responsible for many reforms of the inhumane and bad treatment in the mental health treatment system, has objected to ECT for decades, calling the treatment inhumane and barbaric.

And yet, there remain many psychiatrists who continue to be ECT enthusiasts. They claim that electroshock effectively treats severe, clinical depression, which is unresponsive to antidepressant medications. ECT has been reformulated to use a smaller amount of current through the brain, and the treatment is done with the patient under general anesthesia, or at least, asleep. Psychiatrists claim that the newer ECT is safer and has fewer drawbacks compared to its more primitive, older version. Results of electroshock vary. I have met someone who said it was the only thing that worked to get her out of severe depression. I have met someone else who said ECT made little or no difference. Another person was offered ECT by her psychiatrist, and declined it. Her depression was later resolved without the use of shock.

Electroshock is known to cause long-term amnesia. This memory loss may or may not get better over time. Some people, due to shock treatment, have lost much of the memory of their childhood.

In 1990 I was briefly an inpatient at Herrick. In the psych ward I was “friends” with a red-haired woman, apparently in her fifties. (By this I mean that I talked to her.) At one point, I saw her huddled against a wall with her hands covering her face. I asked her what was wrong, and she replied that she was “terrified to go upstairs.” I didn’t know what this meant. Months after being released, I was to learn that ECT was performed on the top floor of Herrick.

Opponents to shock claim that ECT patients become terrified during the course of treatment. ECT doesn’t involve just one zap; it entails many over the course of weeks.

I do not have an answer concerning the controversy about electroshock; but I know for sure that I wouldn’t want this treatment for myself.

Aging in place is not having to move from one's present residence in order to secure necessary support services in response to changing needs. It is estimated that 70% of seniors spend the rest of their life in the place where they celebrated their 65th birthday.

“Aging in place supports the notion that older persons should be able to maintain a desirable lifestyle by participating in their communities, remaining independent as their health allows, having access to educational, cultural, and recreational facilities, feeling safe, and living in an intergenerational environment. This is especially true of low- to moderate-income older persons whose financial constraints limit their choices.” (NeighborWorks America)

An investigation of older adults’ housing dissatisfaction and subsequent cognitive decline revealed that physically inadequate housing may have a direct effect on their rate of cognitive decline. (Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 24:1 [2010])

Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) are places where a high percentage of older residents live, even though they were not initially planned or marketed with older adults in mind. In the mid-1980’s UJA Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York began targeting health and social services to older adults who were living in market rate apartment buildings in New York City where older adults were the predominant residents. These buildings became known as NORC.

NORC has come to be used as an umbrella term, and what constitutes a NORC has evolved based on the work of researchers, agencies, and policymakers. A NORC is a residential area in which a large percentage of individuals aged 65 and older reside; services needed by the members may or may not be provided. NORCs now vary greatly in terms of location (e.g., urban, rural, suburban), scale of the setting (e.g., apartment building, neighborhood), population size, physical and social characteristics, and whether or not formal service programs are included in membership provisions.

Recognizing the potential for broader applicability of the NORC model, Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) embarked on the NORC Aging in Place Initiative in 2001, to seek federal assistance to promote the development and testing of the NORC model nationally. Between fiscal years 2002 and 2008, JFNA helped federations and their beneficiary agencies to secure federal demonstration grants in 45 communities in 26 states. There are NORC demonstrations in California in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego.

Maggie Kuhn would have perked up at the sound of something like NORC. And she probably would have asked “How much?!” Although NORCs are one of the forms of residential place types for older adults in the United States, relatively little is known about life inside a NORC or how NORCs will impact the housing landscape for older adults.

HUD-administered Section 8 housing projects for seniors and disabled are not examples of NORCs. Strawberry Creek Lodge is not a NORC.

Sausalito Village (November 16, 2010 Berkeley Daily Planet) and Ashby Village are not examples of NORCs.

Ashby Village is a close kin to a NORC, however. It “… provides members in the greater Berkeley area with the practical means, social connections, and resources to enable us to remain independent and supported in our own homes as we age.” It is part of a pioneering effort in this country to re-craft the ways in which people age. Given that the Village Movement has been for the most part the grassroots undertaking of middle to upper-middle class people, the government and foundation funding that typically supports nonprofit organizations is less available. Membership fees are the fundamental source of revenue for most Villages. Maintaining members as well as being able to offer subsidized memberships for lower income members, is one of the main topics of discussion at the national level.

Social Security could not provide sufficient income to support the lifestyles enjoyed by members of many NORCs and the seniors pictured in the motion picture version of the novel, In Her Shoes (September 7, 2010 Planet), described as a “retirement community for active seniors.” A recent UCLA study found that most Californians, age 65 or older, need at least twice the income calculated by the federal government to make ends meet — $21,763 a year on average for a single person renting a one-bedroom apartment, or $30,634 for a couple.

Senior Citizen Housing Q&A:

Q: “Helen how to handle money and other valuable things in apt house where owner enters freely?”

A: Judge Judy would respond “Move!” Alas, there are many elders for whom this non-response wounds like a stab in the chest. Entrance when tenant is not present is logical in emergencies. I know someone who dares to have a sign on the apartment door that reads: “Knock Loudly. Please leave all mail, etc. under the door. Emergency personnel: DNR. Apartment contains no wheelchairs or pets. Tenant is hearing impaired but not otherwise disabled. Health information is posted on kitchen bulletin board. Do Not Enter Except in Emergency.” A firefighter naively asked this tenant to arrange to have similar information on every apartment door! (DNR stands for Do Not Resuscitate).

Q: “What do you have to say about the Comfort Keepers?”

A: In-home care as well as nursing homes are potentially big business, and therefore, often individually owned and operated. Anyone who might be interested in a Comfort Keepers should also query the Complaints Board (aka Consumer Complaints Board) and the local better business bureau. Comfort Keepers is a for-profit self-described “leading provider of quality in-home care to seniors and other clients who need help with the activities of daily living. Now with 600 franchised offices in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Comfort Keepers has been named by INC. Magazine as one of the fastest growing franchise systems in the U.S. We were rated a " World Class Franchise " by the Franchise Research Institute in May 2009 ….”

Q: “ms. wheeler, i am trying to asist a 74 year old tenant who is being harrassed by the manager of her apartment who wants her rent controlled unit vacant. grateful for any response, xxx p.s. please keep this post confidential, for obvious reasons.”

A: It is always difficult to assist people in the situation to which you refer (and there are many) without knowledge of several factors, including what steps have already been taken. Assuming the tenant to whom you refer lives in Berkeley, she might consider contacting the relevant district's councilmember. Presumably the tenant to whom you refer is not a Housing Authority voucher-holder or Section 8 tenant, in which case(s) the approach might differ. She may be aware of the counselors at the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, at 2125 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 TEL: (510) 981-7368. I wish her well. Landlord/Tenant counseling will be available on Dec. 18 at 11 A.M. at Central Berkeley Public Library, and Lawyers in the Library at 6 PM on Thursdays at various branches (check the BPL December schedule; get there early!)

Q: “I want to apply for a room in a housing development for senior citizens, but I cannot get an application form. According to the manager, the wait list is closed or full or some such. I know there are vacancies in the buildings. In fact, the current tenants are being asked to recruit new ones. I am older disabled person but able to live independently on SSI.” A: It sounds like your interest is in a “studio” in a Section 8 HUD rent-subsidized project. If so, you probably have nothing to lose if you contact HUD, whose regional and state offices are in San Francisco. (“Studio” is a euphemism for a room, usually with bath and food preparation provision.) Section Eight, bless its heart, is the federal government’s Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) provision for low-income persons who pay one-third (30%) of their income (e.g. wages, pension, Social Security); the feds (HUD) subsidize the balance. Utilities in senior projects are included in rent, and a senior’s medical expenses are supposedly deducted before each annual recertification, i.e. computation of the rent s/he pays.

Q: “What, if any, is the difference between affordable and low-income rental housing?”

A: The following helpful information has been provided by Deputy Director of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Program (“the rent board”) Dr. Stephen Barton:

In general, rental housing is considered “affordable” if it costs no more than 30% of gross income. This is a problem for low-income renters, while those with higher incomes can afford market-rate housing. Berkeley has a number of ways of trying to provide affordable rental housing. Tenants who have been in the same unit since 1998, many of whom are elderly or disabled, benefit from “old rent control” and have rents that are often affordable. Berkeley has an “inclusionary zoning” ordinance that requires that 20% of the units in new developments have their rents set according to a formula based on the area median income, typically that it be affordable to people with incomes at 80% of area median (still too much for many seniors) or be rented to tenants with Section 8 vouchers. The courts have stopped this program for now, but affordable housing advocates are hoping that with a new governor they can get the state legislature to change the state law to make it clear that it does not apply to inclusionary ordinances in this way. Senior citizens and disabled persons who are able to obtain an application and get on a waiting list (if there is one) for one of Berkeley’s Section 8 senior/disabled projects usually pay 30% of their income after unreimbursed receipted medical expenses are deducted. (Lotsa luck with that but it’s still your best bet!)

Q: “How to get some heat?”

A: Assuming you are cold-in-Berkeley, Brent Nelson (981-5443) is Supervisor for Housing Code enforcement. He will probably forward your heating question to a Housing Inspector. If you don’t get a response, try contacting your Councilmember. (Do you know in which Council district you rent?) I believe the heating requirement is 70 degrees Fahrenheit but there are specifics and exceptions. It may be that the housing code simply requires that the heating system must meet the building code requirements for the time when it was installed and must be in good working order, but does not specify exact temperatures. (Do you have a working thermostat?) See also response to question above from person “trying to asist…”

Q: “Xyz just finished its HUD inspection. Now a group called US Consultants is doing another inspection that we think is a realty assessment, as a prelude to sell. …Is Hud now selling senior housing to developers?” Are other HUD senior housing projects gettting assessed?...”

A: To answer your question, I don't know. It’s apparent that at least one East Bay developer that specializes in senior housing projects is buying and building! There seem to be at least 2 types of "inspections": (1) the property overall with emphasis on a building's function (heat, mold, leaks, roof, boiler, security, etc.), and (2) the individual units. There is also a thing referred to as the "REAC Inspection". REAC stands for Real Estate Assessment Center, and it appears (GOOGLE) to be part of HUD. For a better response, you could try taking your questions to your local Housing Department.

Local & International News:

Mosaics: an Anthology of Creative Writing by Seniors will be launched at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center, located in the Veterans Memorial Building, at 200 Grand Ave., at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, December 10th. This is a joint creative writing project by members of the Downtown and West Oakland Senior Centers. Free, but you must RSVP by calling 238-3284.

Join seniors at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center at the Holiday Open House on Tuesday morning, December 21st from 8:30 until 11:30 am. Free coffee and pastries at the Canteen.

Don’t miss the free interactive Computer Seminar, Friday, January 28, 2010 from 1-3 PM at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center: “Before You Buy a Computer” for seniors who are ready to purchase and those who are interested in knowing more about current PC technology. Extensive discussion about pricing and vendor issues. Call (510) 238-3284 to reserve your seat.

“Computers for Beginners” is regularly offered by the Berkeley Public Library on Thursdays; check the online December schedule.

Arts & Events

"CIRQUE DU SOLEIL'S OVO," -- through Jan. 24. A lively rush into a world of insects and acrobatics. Written and directed by Deborah Colker. See website for times, dates and complete details. Performances take place under the "Grand Chapiteau'' at AT&T Park.

$38-$250.www.cirquedusoleil.com.

ACTORS THEATRE OF SAN FRANCISCO

"The Lion In Winter," through Dec. 18, 8 p.m. Wed.-Sat. The James Goldman classic comes to life on stage. $26-$38.

BEACH BLANKET BABYLON This long-running musical follows Snow White as she sings and dances her way around the world in search of her prince. Along the way she encounters many of the personalities in today's headlines, including Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harry Potter, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, Tom Cruise, Angelina, characters from Brokeback Mountain and Paris Hilton. Persons under 21 are not admitted to evening performances, but are welcome to Sunday matinees.

"Eccentrics of San Francisco's Barbary Coast," ongoing. 8 p.m. Fri. -Sat. Audiences gather for a 90-minute show abounding with local anecdotes and lore presented by captivating and consummate conjurers and taletellers. $30.

"The Clown Cabaret at the Climate," ongoing. 7 and 9 p.m. First Monday of the month. Hailed as San Francisco's hottest ticket in clowning, this show blends rising stars with seasoned professionals on the Climate Theater's intimate stage. $10-$15.

"The Golden Girls' Christmas Episodes," through Dec. 23, 7 and 9 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; no show Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. An uproarious stage production featuring a cast in drag recreating the beloved TV show. Special guests include Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's. $25.

"The 32nd Annual Great Dickens Christmas Fair," through Dec. 19, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat.-Sun. This annual Bay Area favorite sends visitors back to Victorian London and into the living pages of some of Dickens' greatest books with costumed actors, music halls, shops and pubs designed to recreate the feel and look of 19th century England. People can buy gifts and goodies from "street vendors'' and shops, enjoy a traditional tea and British pub meal, or have a pint at "Mad Sal's Dockside Alehouse.'' $12-$25; $60 for season pass. (800) 510-1558, www.dickensfair.com.

"The Tempest," by William Shakespeare, through Dec. 19, 8 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; 5 p.m. Sun. This uniquely San Franciscan version of the Shakespeare classic promises to give an up close look at the monsters lurking inside all of us. $15-$50. (800) 838-3006.

"The Tender King," by Ian Walker, through Dec. 11, 8 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun. A gripping portrayal of presidential decisions surrounding the end of World War II, focusing on Harry Truman's time at the Potsdam Conference. $20-$25. www.secondwind.8m.com.

PIER 39 A pier filled with shops, restaurants, theaters and entertainment of all sorts from sea lions to street performers.

"SAN FRANCISCO CAROUSEL" -- The Pier's two-tiered, San Francisco-themed carousel with hand-crafted ponies that rock and move up and down and tubs that spin. In addition, carousel has hand-painted pictures of San Francisco scenes like the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown and Coit Tower. $3 per ride. "FREQUENT FLYERS'' -- A bungee trampoline where people can safely jump and flip over 20 feet in the air thanks to the help of bungee cords and a harness. Jumpers must weigh at least 30 pounds and not more than 230 pounds. $10 per session. (415) 981-6300.

"TURBO RIDE" -- Three simulated rides where the hydraulic seats move in synchronization with events on a giant screen are available at the Turbo Ride complex. The 12-minute-long rides in 3-D and 4-D are: "Dino Island II''; "Haunted Mine Ride,'' and "Extreme Log Ride.'' $12 general for one ride; $8 seniors and children ages 3 to 12 for one ride; $15 general for two rides; $11 seniors and children ages 3 to 12 for two rides; $18 general for multi-rides; $14 seniors and children ages 3 to 12 for multi-rides. (415) 392-8872.

STUDIO 39 MAGIC CARPET RIDES -- A comedy action adventure utilizing special effects to created a personalized movie with visitors as the "stars'' flying above San Francisco. The Magic Carpet Ride is free. No reservations required. Ride is approximately five minutes. Personalized videos will be available for $30 for one: $10 for each additional tape. (415) 397-3939. SEA LIONS -- California sea lions, nicknamed "Sea Lebrities,'' "hauled out'' on Pier 39's K-Dock shortly after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and by January of 1990 had taken over the docks. Due to a plentiful supply of herring and a protected environment, the population has grown and now reaches as many as 900 during the winter months. Weather permitting, free educational talks are provided by Marine Mammal Center volunteers on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Free. (415) 705-5500.

"A John Waters Xmas," Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m. Legendary cult filmmaker John Waters brings his special, one man holiday show to the Roxie, featuring his trademark monologues, and naughty holiday tales. Proceeds go to benefit the non-profit Roxie, and tickets include a chance to meet Waters, along with the chance of winning raffle prizes. $250. www.roxie.com.

"Coraline," through Jan. 15, 7 p.m. Tue.-Wed.; 8 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; 3 p.m. Sat. Neil Gaiman's children's book is brought to life on the stage with music by Stephen Merritt of the Magnetic Fields. $30-$50.

"One Night Only: A Shrektacular Holiday Celebration," Dec. 13, 8 p.m. The touring cast of "Shrek'' are joined by many special guests including Debbie Gibson, for this benefit concert. $35-$65. www.helpisontheway.org.

Pier 39, 2 Beach St. at the Embarcadero, San Francisco. (415) 705-5500, www.pier39.com.

"ODC/Dance: The Velveteen Rabbit," through Dec. 12. The beloved holiday production returns for its 24th season. Directed by KT Nelson. Times vary throughout run; see website for full details. $15-$45. www.ybca.org.

"The Arabian Nights," Dec. 11 through Dec. 30. Tony Award-winner Mary Zimmerman brings her adaptation of "The Arabian Nights'' back to Berkeley for the holidays. See website for complete listings of performance dates and times. $17.50-$73.

"The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee," through Dec. 18, 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Nov. 14, 21, Dec. 5, 12. The Tony Award-winning story about overachievers' angst comes to life, with music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin. $20.

"CIRQUE DU SOLEIL'S OVO," -- through Jan. 24. A lively rush into a world of insects and acrobatics. Written and directed by Deborah Colker. See website for times, dates and complete details. Performances take place under the "Grand Chapiteau'' at AT&T Park.

"ODC/Dance: The Velveteen Rabbit," through Dec. 12. The beloved holiday production returns for its 24th season. Directed by KT Nelson. Times vary throughout run; see website for full details. $15-$45. www.ybca.org.

"CANDLESTICK PARK ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES FAIRE," -- Dec. 19. More than 500 booths of antiques and collectibles will be available to browse at this huge show. Event takes place in the parking lot at Candlestick Park, San Francisco.

$5-$10.6 a.m.-3 p.m.www.candlestickantiques.com.

CONCOURSE EXHIBITION CENTER

"KPFA Crafts Fair," Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. A wide array of local artists and craftspeople share their work at this 40th annual event. $8-$10; children under 17. www.kpfa.org.

635 Eighth St., San Francisco.

DE YOUNG MUSEUM The art museum has now reopened in a new facility designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron and Fong and Chan Architects in San Francisco. It features significant collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries; modern and contemporary art; art from Central and South America, the Pacific and Africa; and an important and diverse collection of textiles.

"The Art and Spirit of the Creche," Dec. 11, 2:15 p.m. An art lecture from Kate Sculti. Free.

LEGION OF HONOR MUSEUM DOCENT TOUR PROGRAMS -- Tours of the permanent collections and special exhibitions are offered Tuesday through Sunday. Non-English language tours (Italian, French, Spanish and Russian) are available on different Saturdays of the month at 11:30 a.m. Free with regular museum admission. (415) 750-3638.

ONGOING CHILDREN'S PROGRAM --

"Doing and Viewing Art," ongoing. For ages 7 to 12. Docent-led tours of current exhibitions are followed by studio workshops taught by professional artists/teachers. Students learn about art by seeing and making it. Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to noon; call to confirm class. Free with museum admission. (415) 750-3658.

"The Snowman," Dec. 18, 7 p.m. A selection of holiday favorites, followed by a screening of the animated children's classic "The Snowman,'' with live accompaniment by the San Francisco Symphony. $15-$57.

Blind Boys of Alabama, Dec. 19, 8 p.m. Program includes "Go Tell It On The Mountain.'' $15-$57.

CHOUINARD VINEYARDS AND WINERY The winery features an exhibit of stone craft and baskets honoring the rich culture of the Ohlone Indians. Palomares Canyon was a summer home to the Ohlone Indians. The exhibit also includes historical photos and artifacts that document more recent colorful inhabitants to the canyon."Music at Chouinard," ongoing. 4:30-8:30 p.m. on select Sundays June-August. The rest of the year features live music in the tasting room on the second Sunday of each month. Enjoy the best of Bay Area artists at Chouinard. Bring your own gourmet picnic (no outside alcoholic beverages). Wines are available for tasting and sales. $40 per car.

The mechanical age and the anxiety of industrial soceity gets a close examination with two new DVD releases from Kino and Criterion. The latest incarnation of Fritz Lang's Metropolis may very well be the last, as the film is now essentially about 95 percent complete. Kino's previous release was still missing about 45 minutes of footage, nearly a quarter of the original film. But after a near-complete print was finally unearthed in a Buenos Aries film archive, the 1927 silent-era masterpiece can be fully appreciated; the plot finally makes sense.

One of the most influential of all science fiction films, Metropolis is a dystopian nightmare in which the age of machines enables a repressive societal structure in which workers are forced underground to work as slaves, running the machinery that enables the ruling class to thrive above ground. The film is full of typical Langian imagery—stark, symmetric compositions, grand in size and scope—including the iconic moment when the protagonist is bound to a machine that resembles a large clock, trying to keep up with the never-ending task of matching the movement of the machine’s arms to a series of flashing lights. The purpose of the machine is never explained but used merely as an Expressionistic and symbolic device: Mankind enslaved to both time and its own machines.

Later in the film the mad scientist Rotwang sends his robot down into the workers’ netherworld, disguised as their saintly leader Maria, with the intent of using the machine-woman to spark a revolt. Again, man’s demise is threatened by the specter of his own machines run amok. Pairing Metropolis with

Chaplin’s Modern Times makes for an interesting double feature. Neither film represents the best work of its creator, but both feature iconic moments that have stood the test of time. One of the most memorable images of Chaplin’s career comes when his beleaguered assembly line worker, in a mad frenzy of widget-tightening glee, hurls himself onto a conveyor belt and gets caught in the machine’s giant gears, only to single-mindedly begin tightening their bolts.

Modern Times is perhaps Chaplin's most famous work, its curious blend of silence and sound rendering it perhaps a bit more accessible to the modern viewer who may tend to regard true silent films as old-fashioned. Unfortunately, it is not Chaplin's finest hour, for by this time the great comedian had become rather self-conscious, focused too much on expressing his political and social perspectives and shaping his comedy around them, rather than allowing his commentary to stem from this comedy. But Criterion's new edition allows even dissenters to develop a fuller appreciation for the film with bonus-laden two-disc set that includes deleted scenes; a commentary track by Chaplin biographer David Robinson; visual essays by silent-film historians John Bengston and Jeffrey Vance; an interview with David Raksin, who collaborated with Chaplin on the score; and home movies featuring Chaplin, Paulette Goddard and Alistair Cooke.

Dedicated music lovers are clearly not deterred from attending concerts despite heavy winds and torrential rain. This accounts for the several hundred people who braved the elements last Sunday afternoon to fill the beautiful St. Joseph the Worker Church for a program of magnificent music presented by the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra.

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra was founded by Eugene Jones in l966 under the auspices of the Berkeley Adult Program. After Jones' death, Arlene Sagan took over as Music Director; she retains that title but is less active now due to delicate health. Joseph Liebling is currently the very capable guest conductor.

The goal of BCCO remains steadfast: to offer everyone in the community the opportunity to hear and sing great choral music. Such was the case Sunday afternoon, when the orchestra and chorus took their places on the altar and gave a concert that was absolutely inspired, starting with two J.S. Bach numbers, "Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor," transcribed by David P. Cheng, and the first movement of the "Christmas Oratorio." Next came George Frideric Handel's "Zadok the Priest", from the Coronation Anthems, composed for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline in 1717, and still continuing to be popular. After intermission, affording the chorus a well-deserved rest, Franz Joseph Haydn's Mass No. 14 in B-flat minor, the "Harmoniemesse" with soloists Rita Lilly, Lauren Carley, J. Raymond Myers and Gregory Stapp, was the concluding number of this exceptional program. Well, not quite.

Members of the audience were then invited to join their voices in a rousing rendition of the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's "Messiah," and that they did -- literally singing their hearts out!

It should be noted here that that Arlene Sagan will be honored at a Musical Tribute and Reception on May 22, 2011 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, an honor richly deserved.

There will be one more performance of this program, on Sunday, December 19th at 4:30PM, at Saint Joseph The Worker Church, 1640 Addison Street between Sacramento and Martin Luther King Way in Berkeley.

This Sunday at 3:30 is your last chance to see John Brown’s Truth, a production with a new art form, the improvisational opera.

From its website:

“John Brown’s Truth, an opera which integrates classical and jazz elements—with libretto and musical conception by William Crossman—is a radical departure from traditional opera format and, as such, is truly an opera for the 21st Century. Its most radical feature is that, while its libretto is written, its music is not. All music—including that performed by the principals, the chorus, and the orchestra—is entirely improvised on the spot. This means that each performance of the opera is musically unique, newly recreated “in the moment.” The opera is also multi-modal using projected images and other technologies, and interactive involving some opportunities for the audience to briefly participate musically. The opera covers selected events, all within the year 1859, in the life of anti-slavery abolitionist John Brown as he prepares and carries out his raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia and, afterwards, as he is put on trial for the raid. Though the timeline of events depicted is historically accurate, the libretto is a mostly fictionalized rendering of conversations John Brown might have had—and in some cases actually did have, according to historical reports—expressing his actual beliefs, intentions, and plans. The opera received its first performances on the 150th anniversary of the very events it is depicting.”

The tone of the Lemony Snicket novels is cynical, expectant of the impending catastrophe, snide, rude, and hilarious. Children revel in it, I hear.

The current production at the Rep could be better named, “A Series of Unfortunate Occurrences” after another children’s book by Dan Handler (Lemony Snicket’s author and alter ego).

They have gelded Handler’s work by dumbing it to the Sesame Street version wherein they talk slowly and generally omit the Snicketty-style witty doom-saying.

Starring is Geoff Hoyle, much loved clown a la musical hall performer, as the “Charming Host” in the first part, and later the “Inspector” dressed in a British plaid three-piece suit that looks for all the world like motley. I’m not a devotee of clowns, vaudeville, Marx Bros., or Musical Hall, but Geoff is a good chap and has become a legend after twenty years of performing at the Rep. Regrettably, he is not given much to work with and the spry pratfalls and goofiness are not present here.

The first part is a backstage tour titled “The Magic of Living, Breathing Theater” in order to familiarize you with all the hidden technicians and what they do.

Though our Charming Host repetitively touts the production to be “living breathing theatre,” the first half of the 75 minute performance is largely an interactive film made with the marionettes ofPhantom Limb that Geoff talks to and literally gets drawn into. The irony is noted, but it doesn’t excuse the overlong, unfunny cinematic cartoon.

The second part is “ The Composer is Dead ” which introduces the various sections of the orchestra in their interrogation by the Inspector while giving insights into what parts various instrumental sections play in a symphony. Handler couples the instruments-as-suspects’ replies to the Inspector’s 3rd degree with backstage cattiness and jealous swipes at the first violins—those more lime-lit instruments.

The shadow-box two-dimensional musical hall stage with golden and scarlet portals and curtains is lovely, but Hoyle’s shenanigans and clowning are the only movement other than an ekkyklema wagon that rolls on the dead composer corpse and corpus and the flying in of some sight-gags of flies and teacups. The marionettes in the orchestra are instrument heads with faces, and they barely move. I just came from “The War Horse” in London, and the puppetry in Lemony paled by comparison.

They sell the book in the lobby, and we were in stitches hurriedly devouring the short passages full of vitriolic chuckles before the curtain. Alas, our high expectations were laid low. As I remarked upon our exit to the smiling young man who oversees the bookstall and who indulged our pre-show reading-without-buying, “The book’s better.”

Two kicks in the pants:

1) It was decidedly aimed at young children, but I did a headcount of the elementary school–agers upstairs and down and settled on a round 35 of them in a pretty well sold-out house of 600.

2) The outtakes from the film that showed after the final credits nailed the Snicketty style, and everybody laughed the real laughs that had been absent for the previous 70 minutes. The snippet of Tony Taccone directing a baby puppet and the finale restroom scene are almost worth sitting through what’s come before.

Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead, a deliciously silly world premiere for the holidays.

San Francisco has the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill and now the Big Apple has its own Big-screen Birdtacular — about the red-tailed hawks of Central Park West. The film’s titular predator is Pale Male (so-dubbed owing to his atypically light-colored plumage) and his story is told by Belgian-émigré-turned-NY shopkeeper-turned-filmmaker Frederic Lilien, who narrates the film with cornball sentimentality (“This is the story of a bird and a young man seeking their destiny in the greatest city on Earth.”)

Fortunately, the film rises far above its thin storyline — thanks to first-time filmmaker Lilien’s ability to capture a visual banquet of wrenchingly beautiful images — the result of a unique film odyssey that took 20 years and left Lilien with a long list of filmmaking awards. (At every screening, the hawk’s stunning aerial maneuvers have left audience members screaming with amazement.)

As the first redtail to return to Central Park in 100 years, Pale Male quickly won a following among ground-level Manhattanites. After dazzling New Yorkers with pigeon-snatching aerobatics that would leave the Blue Angels green with envy, Pale Male builds a nest on the 12th-floor ledge of a posh Manhattan high-rise between Madison and Park Avenue — near the digs occupied by Woody Allen.

As luck would have it, the location — at 927 Fifth Avenue — happens to face the Central Park Boat Pond, a convenient gathering place for neighborhood residents. Quicker than you can say “hawk–on-a-high-rise,” the benches lining the pond become a local — and eventually an international — Mecca for birdwatchers, kids and tourists from around the world who flock see “the most famous hawk in the world.” The Pond also becomes a special place where rich and poor gather as equals to share the wonder that comes from experiencing the raw beauty of nature. The expressions on the faces of the spectators will send your heart soaring.

“But Pale Male had bigger ideas that would take us all by surprise,” Lilien proclaims portentously. So what’s the big surprise? Just the arrival of a female hawk. The lure of watching a wild hawk plucking pigeons from the sky and snatching squirrels from a limb is now compounded by the voyeuristic kick of watching hawks mate. (You could easily get the idea that the birds have more active sex lives than these binocular-wielding New Yorkers.) The hawks’ favorite mating spot? The terrace of Woody Allen’s penthouse.

The Pond becomes an urban Eden populated with photographers, painters and kids who are more interested in hawks than Gameboy and Pokémon.

The first year sees the arrival of three fluffy, white-feathered chicks. Over the next nine years, three of Pale Male’s mates will die (one from eating a poisoned rat, one from a collision with a car, one from unknown causes). But the idyll ends abruptly in 2001 when the building’s board of directors votes to remove the hawks’ nest. It was all gone in half an hour, leaving the hawks and their human followers equally confused and devastated, feeling homeless and lost.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, one grieving resident says, “when everything else is wrong in the world, we could still look forward to this.” Adds another: “If it wasn’t for [the hawks], I would have left New York.”

The Board of Directors reportedly acted after some of the building’s wealthy residents objected to the growing throngs of strangers on the ground training binoculars, cameras and telescopes at their windows. But if these residents (reportedly including an investment banker, an Enron executive and a well-known TV news anchor) wanted privacy, they made the wrong move.

Spontaneously, people from all over Manhattan converged on the Pond, brandishing protest signs and demanding that the nest be restored. The local Audubon chapter started getting calls from around the world from people demanding: “Bring back the nests!” One of the building’s residents, Mary Tyler Moore, came down and joined the protests — at one point even providing bail for a jailed protester.

After six days of protests, the directors buckled and agreed to install an improved metal bed for the nest. But, though the hawks returned, their eggs failed to hatch. “No one knows what went wrong,” Lilien narrates. “The only thing we know is that something beautiful had been broken.”

Fortunately, there is more to the story. Although Pale Male never sees another egg hatched or another fledging make its first fitful flight, the ending is wonderfully upbeat. Of all the images that stay with you, the one that lingers longest may well be the faces of people on the ground looking up as a redtail hawk soars overhead.

They are cheering and smiling back at the sky, pointing fingers and waving arms rapturously as though saluting a superhero. And maybe this is the real message of the film: Who needs Spiderman when you’ve got hawks?

Becoming Julia is an extraordinarily well-acted biopic of Julia Morgan’s life and accomplishments played in the perfect setting of her “Little Castle” as

the Berkeley City Club was first known. Belinda Taylor’s script could well win awards as a PBS afternoon special for intellectual female teenagers. However, the script has no conflict in it, and that’s what drives a play. Ironically, in the play Julia Morgan refuses to reveal her personal life to her young biographer, acknowledging, “Without that, it would be a boring book.”

Janis Stevens as Julia brings a realism that is a joy in this small space. She plays her both old and young, with all the nuances that make us believe that perhaps the architect has returned to her grand room with the hearth.

Sally Clawson is truly amazing in the supporting role of multiple characters, not just in mien or gesture, but down to the timbre of her voice changing as she portrays Julia’s mother, Phoebe Hearst, Marion Davies, the young wife of the biographer or any of the others. She brings just the right touch of glamour and sexuality in the role of Davies, the “Million Dollar Baby” of “rosebud” fame, wearing sparkly, semi-translucent trousers—a perfect blend of Harlow and Dietrich. The costumes by Gail Russell are rich, simple, add to the characters and put us in the time period.

Dave Garrett as Hearst, Maybeck, and other larger-than-life portly gentlemen of the early last century, is larger on stage than in life with an imposing figure and commanding manner, and was born to wear a high, starched collar. Paul Baird plays Julia’s fragile brother and the hotshot reporter who wants to be her biographer. Both actors bring the essence of characters from 1930’s movies to bear in their roles.

Director Barbara Oliver founded Aurora Theatre decades ago in the very theatre where BECOMING plays and that now houses Central Works. Her staging and her encouragement and coaching of the actors keep the play moving in a believable, “no acting please” way which is essential for the intimate stage. However, some clumsy entrances and exits in the dark with the lights from the hall spilling in, is an off-putting way to begin and end the first act.

Belinda Taylor’s writing brings us the details of the first American woman architect’s back-story and accomplishments, regales us with architectural concepts (“the golden rectangle”) that expand our appreciation of the arts, and offers a finer appreciation of our surroundings. Ms. Taylor takes license with flight of fancy that brings in hearth and home gods Janus and Vesta (as an inscrutably Irish Roman goddess!). I was expecting a true “deus ex machina,” but this fancy turns into philosophizing that yanks us out of the story. While Ms. Taylor provides the players with easy dialogue to speak, it is devoid of that catalogue which keeps us enthralled: sex, violence, money, secrets, family or psychological abuse, or any other uncomfortable underpinnings of human instinct and appetite. Go to BECOMING to soak up the learning experience that Ms. Taylor has penned, but leave other expectations at home.

BECOMING JULIA

Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley. Playing through January 9th.

Written by Belinda Taylor, directed by Barbara Oliver, produced by Sabrina Kline, costumes by Gail Russell, lighting by Carrie Mullen, set by Martin Flynn, props by Devon LaBelle, composition and sound by Chris Houston, house management by Mondia Doty and Alexi Taylor, graphics by Helene Goldberg, and stage management by Mina Yueh

With: Paul Baird, Sally Clawson, Dave Garrett, Janis Stevens

John A. McMullen II writes as Eye from the Aisle currently exclusively for the Berkeley Daily Planet. Thanks to EJ Dunne for editing. Comments to eyefromtheaisle@gmail.com

The 20th Annual PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles National Literary Awards will take place on Saturday, December 11, 2010, at the Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Avenue from 2 to 5 p.m. The ceremony, which will be followed by a reception and book signings, is free and open to the public. Former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata will be the keynote speaker. PEN Oakland, founded in 1989, is a chapter of PEN International, founded in 1921. Dubbed "the blue collar PEN" by the New York Times, PEN Oakland annually sponsors the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Book Awards, named for the late poet and faculty member of U.C. Berkeley's English Department. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards. Each year PEN Oakland presents an award to outstanding book titles published in the previous year.

ASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO The Asian Art Museum-Chon-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture recently unveiled its new building in San Francisco's Civic Center. The building, the former San Francisco Public Library, has been completely retrofitted and rebuilt to house San Francisco's significant collection of Asian treasures. The museum offers complimentary audio tours of the museum's collection galleries. "In a New Light," ongoing. There are some 2,500 works displayed in the museum's new galleries. They cover all the major cultures of Asia and include Indian stone sculptures, intricately carved Chinese jades, Korean paintings, Tibetan thanksgas, Cambodian Buddhas, Islamic manuscripts and Japanese basketry and kimonos.

ONGOING FAMILY PROGRAMS --

Storytelling, Sundays and the first Saturday of every month, 1 p.m. This event is for children of all ages to enjoy a re-telling of Asian myths and folktales in the galleries. Meet at the Information Desk on the Ground Floor. Free with general admission.

"Target Tuesday Family Program," first Tuesday of every month. Free with general admission.

"Family Art Encounter," first Saturday of every month, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Drop in to make art related to the museum's collection. Children must be accompanied by an adult. In the Education Studios. Free with admission.

DOCENT-LED ART TOURS -- The museum's docents offer two types of tours: a general introduction to the museum's collection and a highlight tour of specific areas of the collection. Free with museum admission.

ARCHITECTURAL GUIDES -- Tuesday through Sunday at noon and 2:30 p.m., Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Learn about the former Main Library's transformation into the Asian Art Museum on this 40-minute tour. Free with museum admission.

$7-$12; free children under age 12; $5 Thursday after 5 p.m.; free to all first Sunday of each month. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. 200 Larkin St., San Francisco. (415) 581-3500, www.asianart.org.

BEAT MUSEUM Formerly located on the California coast in Monterey, the Beat Museum now sits in historic North Beach. The Museum uses letters, magazines, pictures, first editions and more to explore the lives of leading beat figures such as Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and many others. A gift shop and bookstore are open to the public free of charge."North Beach Walking Tour,", ongoing. A 90-minute walking tour of North Beach with Beat Museum curator Jerry Cimimo. See the bars, coffeehouses, homes, and other Beat-related highlights of North Beach. Call for info. $15.$4-$5. Monday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. CLOSED MONDAY. 540 Broadway, San Francisco. (800) KER-OUAC, www.kerouac.com.

CABLE CAR MUSEUM The museum is located in the historic Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse. Visitors can see the actual cable winding machinery, grips, track, cable and brakes, as well as three historic cable cars, photo displays and mechanical artifacts. The best way to get to this museum is by cable car; street parking is practically non-existent.Free. April 1-Sept. 30: daily, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 1-March 31, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 1201 Mason St., San Francisco. (415) 474-1887, www.cablecarmuseum.org.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

"Nightlife," ongoing. 6 p.m. Thursdays. Every Thursday night, the Academy transforms into a lively venue filled with provocative science, music, mingling and cocktails, as visitors get a chance to explore the museum.

"Where the Land Meets the Sea," ongoing. Exhibition features sculpture by Maya Lin.

HISTORY WALKABOUTS -- ongoing. A series of monthly walking tours that explore the history, lore and architecture of California with veteran tour guide Gary Holloway. Walks take place rain or shine so dress for the weather. Reservations and prepayment required. Meeting place will be given with confirmation of tour reservation. Tour price includes admission to the Museum.

MUSEUM -- ongoing. The museum's permanent collection is made up of the Fine Arts Collection, consisting of 5,000 works of art that represent the history of California from pre-Gold Rush days to the early decade of the 20th century; and The Photography Collection, containing nearly a halfmillion images in an array of photographic formats documenting the history of California in both the 19th and 20th centuries. The Library and Research Collection contain material relating to the history of California and the West from early exploration time to the present including texts, maps, and manuscripts.

"Landscape and Vision: Early California Painters from the Collections of the California Historical Society," open-ended. An exhibit of oil paintings including a large number of early landscapes of California, from the museum's collection.

"Think California," through Feb. 5, Wed.-Sat. noon-4:30 p.m. An exhibition highlighting the colorful history of California through the institution's remarkable collection of artwork, artifacts and ephemera. Themes include: Coming to California, Scenic Splendors, Earthquakes, Floods and Volcanoes, and more. $1-$3; members are always free.

CHINESE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA The CHSA Museum and Learning Center features a permanent exhibition, "The Chinese of America: Toward a More Perfect Union'' in its Main Gallery, and works by Chinese-American visual artists in its Rotating Galleries. "Leaders of the Band," ongoing. An exhibition of the history and development of the Cathay Club Marching Band, the first Chinese American band formed in 1911.$1-$3; free children ages 5 and under; free for all visitors first Thursday of every month. Tuesday-Friday, noon-5 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, noon-4 p.m. 965 Clay St., San Francisco. (415) 391-1188, www.chsa.org.

DE YOUNG MUSEUM The art museum has now reopened in a new facility designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron and Fong and Chan Architects in San Francisco. It features significant collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries; modern and contemporary art; art from Central and South America, the Pacific and Africa; and an important and diverse collection of textiles.

"Pat Steir: After Hokusai, after Hiroshige," through Jan. 30. Exhibition shows the continued influence of the Japanese print on Western artists into the late twentieth century.

"To Dye For: A World Saturated in Color," through Jan. 9. Exhibition features over 50 textiles and costumes from the Fine Arts Museums' comprehensive collection of textiles from Africa, Asia and the Americas.

"The Art and Spirit of the Creche," Dec. 11, 2:15 p.m. An art lecture from Kate Sculti. Free.

LEGION OF HONOR MUSEUM DOCENT TOUR PROGRAMS -- Tours of the permanent collections and special exhibitions are offered Tuesday through Sunday. Non-English language tours (Italian, French, Spanish and Russian) are available on different Saturdays of the month at 11:30 a.m. Free with regular museum admission. (415) 750-3638.

ONGOING CHILDREN'S PROGRAM --

"Doing and Viewing Art," ongoing. For ages 7 to 12. Docent-led tours of current exhibitions are followed by studio workshops taught by professional artists/teachers. Students learn about art by seeing and making it. Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to noon; call to confirm class. Free with museum admission. (415) 750-3658.

THE MEXICAN MUSEUM GALLERIES AT FORT MASON CENTER ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED --

The Mexican Museum holds a unique collection of 12,000 objects representing thousands of years of Mexican history and culture within the Americas. The permanent collection, the Museum's most important asset and resource, includes five collecting areas: Pre-Conquest, Colonial, Popular, Modern and Contemporary Mexican and Latino, and Chicano Art. The Museum also has a collection of rare books and a growing collection of Latin American art.

MUSEO ITALOAMERICANO ongoing. The museum, dedicated to the exhibition of art works by Italian and Italian-American artists, has a small permanent collection of paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper by such renowned artists as Beniamino Buffano, Sandro Chia, Giorgio de Chirico and Arnaldo Pomodoro.

DOCENT TOURS -- Wednesdays, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Free.

$2-$3; free children under age 12; free to all first Wednesday of the month. Wednesday-Sunday, noon -4 p.m.; first Wednesday of the month, noon-7 p.m. Fort Mason Center, Building C, Buchanan Street and Marina Boulevard, San Francisco. (415) 673-2200, www.museoitaloamericano.org.

MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA A new museum exploring and celebrating the influence of the African Diaspora on global art and culture through interactive, permanent and changing exhibits and special programs. The museum occupies the first three floors of the new St. Regis Hotel at Third and Mission streets.

PERMANENT EXHIBITS --

"Celebrations: Rituals and Ceremonies," "Music of the Diaspora,'' "Culinary Traditions,'' 'Adornment,'' "Slavery Passages,'' and "The Freedom Theater.''"Urban Kidz Film Series," ongoing. Noon-3 p.m. An offshoot of the San Francisco Black Film Festival, featuring a striking assemblage of short and feature films designed to spark the imaginations of the 5-to-12-year-old set. $10 adults; children free. (415) 771-9271."Celebrate Kwanzaa Family Day," Dec. 18, Noon-4 p.m.

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM LIBRARY (THE J. PORTER SHAW MARITIME LIBRARY) ongoing. Closed on federal holidays. The library, part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, focuses on sail and steam ships on the West Coast and the Pacific Basin from 1520 to the present. The museum library holdings include a premiere collection of maritime history: books, magazines, oral histories, ships' plans and the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's 250,000 photographs.

PACIFIC HERITAGE MUSEUM ongoing. The museum presents rotating exhibits highlighting historical, artistic, cultural and economic achievements from both sides of the Pacific Rim. The museum features a permanent display documenting the history and significance of the Branch Mint and Subtreasury buildings.

RANDALL MUSEUM"Earthquake Exhibit," ongoing. Learn about plate tectonics. Make a small quake by jumping on the floor to make a "floor quake'' that registers on the seismometer in the lobby. See the basement seismometer that registers quakes around the world. Walk through a full-size earthquake refugee shack that was used to house San Franciscans after the 1906 earthquake that destroyed so many homes.

"Creativity and Discovery Hand in Hand," ongoing. A photography exhibit that gives visitors a look into the wide variety of programs the Museum offers in the way of classes, workshops, school field trips, and special interest clubs.

"Toddler Treehouse," ongoing. Toddlers may comfortably climb the carpeted "treehouse'' and make a myriad of discoveries, from the roots to the limbs.

"Live Animal Exhibit," ongoing. Visit with more than 100 creatures including small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, raptors and small birds, insects, spiders and tide pool creatures. "Saturdays Are Special at the Museum," ongoing. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A series of drop-in ceramics and art and science workshops. All ages are welcome, though an adult must accompany children under age 8. $3 per child, $5 per parent-child combination.

"Bufano Sculpture Tours," first and third Saturdays of the month, 10:15 a.m. A tour of the giant animal sculptures of Beniamino Bufano. The sculptures were carved out of stone in the 1930s and include a giant cat and a mother bear nursing her cubs.

"Animal Room," ongoing. Visit some of the animals that live at the museum, including reptiles, raptors, tide pool creatures and small mammals.

"Meet the Animals" Saturdays, 11:15 a.m. to noon. See the Randall's animals close-up and in person.

"Animal Feeding," Saturdays, noon. Watch the animals take their meals.

"Meet the Animals," ongoing. Saturdays, 11:15 a.m. Learn about the animals that live at the Randall Museum.

"Animal Feeding," ongoing. Saturday, noon.

"Third Friday Birders," ongoing. 8 a.m. The hike through Corona Heights Park allows participants to enjoy the early morning views and learn more about the feathered inhabitants of the area. Children aged 10 and older if accompanied by adult.

SAN FRANCISCO CABLE CAR MUSEUM ongoing. The museum is located in the historic Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse. Visitors can see the actual cable winding machinery, grips, track, cable and brakes, as well as three historic cable cars, photo displays and mechanical artifacts. The best way to get to this museum is by cable car; street parking is practically non-existent.

SAN FRANCISCO MARITIME NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK One of only a few "floating'' national parks, the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park includes four national landmark ships, a maritime museum, a maritime library and a World-War-II submarine named the USS Pampanito.

HYDE STREET PIER -- Demonstrations, ship tours, programs, music and special events offered throughout the day. Check ticket booth for schedule. At the foot of Hyde Street, Hyde and Jefferson streets.

Entering the Pier is free but there is a fee to board the ships.

HISTORIC SHIPS AT THE HYDE STREET PIER -- The historic ships at the Pier are the 1886 square-rigger "Balclutha,'' the 1890 steam ferryboat "Eureka,'' the 1895 schooner "C.A. Thayer'' (not available at this time due to restoration), the 1891 scow schooner "Alma,'' the 1907 steam tug "Hercules,'' and the 1914 "Eppleton Hall,'' a paddlewheel tug.

"Balclutha." This historic ship, a three-mast square-rigger, has undergone extensive repairs and preservation work. She now contains more original materials and fittings than any other historic merchant square-rigger in the United States. The Balclutha is a designated National Historic Landmark. At Hyde Street Pier.

"Eureka." Explore this 1890 ferryboat with a 40-foot walking-beam engine. The boat once carried passengers and autos across the San Francisco Bay. At Hyde Street Pier. Daily, call for times of boat tour.

"C.A. Thayer." A three-mast schooner used in the lumber and cod fishing trades. At Hyde Street Pier.

"Alma." Between 1850 and the early 1900s, the best highways around the San Francisco Bay area were the waterways and the delivery trucks and tractortrailer rigs of the time were the flat-bottomed scow schooners. Able to navigate the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta region's shallow creeks, sloughs and channels, the scows' sturdy hulls could rest safely and securely on the bottom providing a flat, stable platform for loading and unloading. Made of inexpensive Douglas fir, scow's designs were so simple they could be built by eye or without plans.

"Hercules." Tugs in the early part of the 20th century towed barges, sailing ships and log rafts between Pacific ports. Because prevailing north/west winds generally made travel up the coast by sail both difficult and circuitous, tugs often towed large sailing vessels to points north of San Francisco. In 1916 Hercules towed the C.A. Thayer to Port Townsend, Wash., taking six days to make the trip. At the end of the sail era, the Hercules was acquired by the Western Pacific Railroad Company and shuttled railroad car barges back and forth across San Francisco Bay until 1962.

"Eppleton Hall." Built in England, the steam side-wheeler plied the Wear and Tyne rivers of Northeast England. Designed to tow ocean-going colliers (coal-carrying sail vessels) the tugs saved transit time getting the sail vessels upriver to load. The side-wheelers were also used to tow newly built ships out to sea. From 1969 to 1979, the Eppleton Hall served as a private yacht. She was modified for an epic steam via the Panama Canal to San Francisco, passing through the Golden Gate in March of 1970.

HISTORIC SHIP AT FISHERMAN'S WHARF --

"USS Pampanito." This World-War-II-era submarine is berthed at Fisherman's Wharf. The submarine celebrated her 50th anniversary in November of 1993 and is perhaps best known for her participation in a "wolf pack'' attack on a convoy of enemy ships during World War II. The entrance fee includes a taped audio tour that describes what life on this submarine was like. At Pier 45, near foot of Taylor Street. Monday through Thursday, Sunday and holidays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. $9 general; $5 seniors, $4 active duty military, $4 youth ages 6 to 12; free children under age 6. (415) 775-1943. "Historic Ship Volunteer Work Party," Saturday, 9 a.m. Become part of an effort to preserve four of the park's nautical treasures. Work on a different ship each Saturday. Bring work clothes, work shoes and lunch. Call for meeting place. (415) 332-8409.

Unless noted otherwise, events take place on the Hyde Street Pier, located at the foot of Hyde Street on Jefferson Street.Current Exhibits at the Visitor Center:

"Frisco Bound," an exhibition about immigration to San Francisco, clipper ships, and the Gold Rush era.

"Hyde Street Ship Models," an exhibit of models of the historic ships at the Hyde Street Pier.

"Discovery Room," a preview of the Maritime Library where visitors can look up documents and photographs.

(415) 447-5000."Adventures at Sea: Life Aboard a 19th century Sailing Ship," ongoing. Daily, 2:15 p.m.-3 p.m. Take a guided tour of the sailing ship Balclutha and learn about the hardships and awards of the sailors show fought for survival during the treacherous Cape Horn passage. Vessel admission.

"Sailing Adventure Aboard Scow Schooner ALMA," ongoing. 12:30-4:30 p.m. Three-hour educational, hands-on sailing program. Takes place on various days throughout the month; see website for full details. $20-$40; children under 6 are free.

"Historic Waterfront Walking Tour," ongoing. 10:30-11:30 a.m. Park Rangerled, hour long tour of San Francisco's northern waterfront. Tour takes place on various days throughout December; see website for full details. Free.

"Christmas at Sea," Dec. 11, 3-5 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Bring the family down to Hyde Street Pier for an old fashioned holiday. Experience live music, refreshments, ornament making, a visit from Santa and more. $5; children under 16 are free.

"HERCULES Engineering Tour," Dec. 12, 3-3:45 p.m. Explore the major engineering spaces and learn about steam engine technology and its effects on the working environment of the marine steam engineer. $5; under 16 free.

"Music of the Sea for Kids," Dec. 18, 3-3:45 p.m. Sing songs that are geared for younger ears and chosen especially for fun. Ages 6 and up. $5; children under 15 are free.

"Lighthouses of San Francisco Bay," Dec. 19, 3:15-4 p.m. An illustrated talk on the lighthouses of San Francisco Bay. Free.

VISITOR CENTER -- ongoing. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Daily

Entering the Pier is free but there is a fee to board the ships. The fee allows access to all ships and is good for seven days. $5; free children under age 16. May 28-Sept. 30: daily, 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.; Oct. 1-May 27: Daily, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Foot of Hyde Street, San Francisco. (415) 561-7100, www.nps.gov.

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF CRAFT AND DESIGN A museum celebrating and promoting the art of contemporary craft and design. The museum showcases diverse exhibitions from regional, national and international artists, working in mediums such as wood, clay, fiber, metal and glass.TEMPORARILY CLOSED.

SAN FRANCISCO PERFORMING ARTS LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ongoing. "Dance in California: 150 Years of Innovation," ongoing. This permanent exhibit traces the history and artistic range of modern dance in California, with photographs and documents highlighting the achievements of Lola Montez, Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham, the Christensen brothers, the Peters Wright School, the company of Lester Horton, Anna Halprin and Lucas Hoving.

"Maestro! Photographic Portraits by Tom Zimberoff," ongoing. This permanent exhibit is a comprehensive study of a generation of national and international conductors. In Gallery 5.

SEYMOUR PIONEER MUSEUM ongoing. The museum, owned by The Society of California Pioneers, houses a permanent research library, art gallery and history museum. Exhibits include a photography collection documenting California history.

TREGANZA ANTHROPOLOGY MUSEUM AT SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY ongoing. The museum, founded in 1968, houses collections of archaeological and ethnographic specimens from Africa, Oceania, Asia, and North America as well as small collections from Central and South America. There are also collections of photographs, tapes and phonograph records from Africa and Europe. In addition, there is an archive of field notes and other materials associated with the collections. The museum also houses the Hohenthal Gallery that is used for traveling exhibits as well as exhibits mounted by students and faculty.

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission.

"Horse-Drawn Train," Thursday, Friday and Sunday. A 20-minute ride departs from Ardenwood Station and Deer Park.

"Animal Feeding," Thursday-Sunday, 3-4 p.m. Help slop the hogs, check the henhouse for eggs and bring hay to the livestock.

"Victorian Flower Arranging," Thursday, 10:15-11:30 a.m. Watch as Ardenwood docents create floral works of art for display in the Patterson House. "Potato Harvesting," ongoing. Learn the spectacular history of this New World native as you dig with your spade and help find the spuds.

"Toddler Time," ongoing. Tuesdays, 11-11:30 a.m. Bring the tiny tots out for an exciting morning at the farm. Meet and learn all about a new animal friend through stories, chores and fun.

BAY AREA RAIL TRAILS ongoing. A network of trails converted from unused railway corridors and developed by the Rails to Trails Conservancy.

BLACK DIAMOND MINES REGIONAL PRESERVE RAILROAD BED TRAIL -- Ongoing. This easy one mile long rail trail on Mount Diablo leads to many historic sites within the preserve. Suitable for walking, horseback riding, and mountain biking. Accessible year round but may be muddy during the rainy season. Enter from the Park Entrance Station parking lot on the East side of Somersville Road, Antioch.

IRON HORSE REGIONAL TRAIL -- Ongoing. The paved trail has grown into a 23 mile path between Concord and San Ramon with a link into Dublin. The trail runs from the north end of Monument Boulevard at Mohr Lane, east to Interstate 680, in Concord through Walnut Creek to just south of Village Green Park in San Ramon. It will eventually extend from Suisun Bay to Pleasanton and has been nominated as a Community Millennium Trail under the U.S. Millennium Trails program. A smooth shaded trail suitable for walkers, cyclists, skaters and strollers. It is also wheelchair accessible. Difficulty: easy to moderate in small chunks; hard if taken as a whole.

LAFAYETTE/MORAGA REGIONAL TRAIL -- Ongoing. A 7.65 mile paved trail converted from the Sacramento Northern Rail line. This 20-year old trail goes along Las Trampas Creek and parallels St. Mary's Road. Suitable for walkers, equestrians, and cyclists. Runs from Olympic Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road in Lafayette to Moraga. The trail can be used year round.

OHLONE GREENWAY -- Ongoing. A 3.75-mile paved trail converted from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway. Suitable for walkers, strollers and skaters. It is also wheelchair accessible. The trail runs under elevated BART tracks from Conlon and Key Streets in El Cerrito to Virginia and Acton Streets in Berkeley.

SHEPHERD CANYON TRAIL -- Ongoing. An easy 3-mile paved trail converted from the Sacramento Northern Rail Line. The tree-lined trail is gently sloping and generally follows Shepherd Canyon Road. Suitable for walkers and cyclists. It is also wheelchair accessible. Begins in Montclair Village behind McCaulou's Department Store on Medau Place and ends at Paso Robles Drive, Oakland. Useable year round.

BAY AREA RIDGE TRAIL ongoing. The Bay Area Ridge Trail, when completed, will be a 400-mile regional trail system that will form a loop around the entire San Francisco Bay region, linking 75 public parks and open spaces to thousands of people and hundreds of communities. Hikes on portions of the trail are available through the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. Call for meeting sites. ALAMEDA COUNTY -- "Lake Chabot Bike Rides." These rides are for strong beginners and intermediates to build skill, strength and endurance at a non hammerhead pace. No one will be dropped. Reservations required. Distance: 14 miles. Elevation gain: 1,000 feet. Difficulty: beginner to intermediate. Pace: moderate. Meeting place: Lake Chabot Road at the main entrance to the park. Thursday, 6:15 a.m. (510) 468-3582.

BICYCLE TRAILS COUNCIL OF THE EAST BAY ongoing. The Council sponsors trail work days, Youth Bike Adventure Rides, and Group Rides as well as Mountain Bike Basics classes which cover training and handling skills. "Weekly Wednesday Ride at Lake Chabot," ongoing. Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. A 13- to 20-mile ride exploring the trails around Lake Chabot, with 1,500 to 2,000 feet of climbing. Meet at 6:15 p.m. in the parking lot across from the public safety offices at Lake Chabot in Castro Valley. Reservations requested. (510) 727-0613.

"Walnut Creek On Ice," through Jan. 17. A special holiday time outdoor ice skating rink. See website for complete details. www.walnut-creek.com.

1375 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek.

CRAB COVE VISITOR CENTER At Crab Cove, you can see live underwater creatures and go into the San Francisco Bay from land. You can also travel back in time to Alameda's part. The goal is to increase understanding of the environmental importance of San Francisco Bay and the ocean ecosystem. Crab Cove's Indoor Aquarium and Exhibit Lab is one of the largest indoor aquariums in the East Bay."Sea Siblings," ongoing. Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Explore the natural world and take part in a theme related craft. Designed for the 3-5 year old learner. Registration is required.

DUNSMUIR HOUSE AND GARDENS HISTORIC ESTATE ongoing. Nestled in the Oakland hills, the 50-acre Dunsmuir House and Gardens estate includes the 37-room Neoclassical Revival Dunsmuir Mansion, built by coal and lumber baron Alexander Dunsmuir for his bride. Restored outbuildings set amid landscaped gardens surround the mansion.

ESTATE GROUNDS -- Ongoing. Self-Guided Grounds Tours are available yearround. The 50 acres of gardens and grounds at the mansion are open to the public for walking Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Booklets and maps of the grounds are available at the Dinkelspiel House. Free.

GUIDED TOURS -- Docent-led tours are available on the first Sunday of each month at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. (except for July) and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. $5 adults, $4 seniors and juniors (11-16), children 11 and under free.

FIFTY-PLUS ADVENTURE WALKS AND RUNS ongoing. The walks and runs are 3-mile round-trips, lasting about one hour on the trail. All levels of ability are welcome. The walks are brisk, however, and may include some uphill terrain. Events are held rain or shine and on all holidays except Christmas and the Fifty-Plus Annual Fitness Weekend. Call for dates, times and details.

FOREST HOME FARMS ongoing. The 16-acre former farm of the Boone family is now a municipal historic park in San Ramon. It is located at the base of the East Bay Hills and is divided into two parts by Oak Creek. The Boone House is a 22-room Dutch colonial that has been remodeled several times since it was built in 1900. Also on the property are a barn built in the period from 1850 to 1860; the Victorian-style David Glass House, dating from the late 1860s to early 1870s; a storage structure for farm equipment and automobiles; and a walnut processing plant.

GREENBELT ALLIANCE OUTINGS A series of hikes, bike rides and events sponsored by Greenbelt Alliance, the Bay Area's non-profit land conservation and urban planning organization. Call for meeting places. Reservations required for all trips.

ALAMEDA COUNTY --

"Self-Guided Urban Outing: Berkeley," ongoing. This interactive smart growth walking tour of central Berkeley examines some of the exciting projects that help alleviate the housing shortage in the city as well as amenities important to making a livable community. The walk, which includes the GAIA Cultural Center, Allston Oak Court, The Berkeley Bike Station, University Terrace and Strawberry Creek Park, takes between an hour-and-ahalf to two hours at a leisurely pace. Download the itinerary which gives specific directions by entering www.greeenbelt.org and clicking on "get involved'' and then "urban outings.'' Drop down and click on Berkeley. Free.

HAYWARD REGIONAL SHORELINE With 1,682 acres of salt, fresh and brackish water marshes, seasonal wetlands and the approximately three-mile San Lorenzo Trail, the Hayward Shoreline restoration project is one of the largest of its kind on the West Coast, comprising 400 acres of marshland. Part of the East Bay Regional Park District.Ongoing.

HAYWARD SHORELINE INTERPRETIVE CENTER Perched on stilts above a salt marsh, the Center offers an introduction to the San Francisco Bay-Estuary. It features exhibits, programs and activities designed to inspire a sense of appreciation, respect and stewardship for the Bay, its inhabitants and the services they provide. The Habitat Room offers a preview of what may be seen outside. The 80-gallon Bay Tank contains some of the fish that live in the Bay's open waters, and the Channel Tank represents habitats formed by the maze of sloughs and creeks that snake through the marsh. The main room of the Center features rotating exhibits about area history, plants and wildlife. Part of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. "Exploring Nature," ongoing. An exhibit of Shawn Gould's illustrations featuring images of the natural world.Ongoing.

"Waterfowl of the Freshwater Marsh," ongoing. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Join an expert birder to go "behind the gates'' to areas of the marsh that are not open to the public.

"Nature Detectives," ongoing. 11 a.m.-noon. An introduction and exploration of the world of Black-Crowned Night-Herons. Ages 3-5 and their caregivers. Registration required.

JOHN MUIR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE The site preserves the 1882 Muir House, a 17-room Victorian mansion where naturalist John Muir lived from 1890 to his death in 1914. It was here that Muir wrote about preserving America's wilderness and helped create the national parks idea for the United States. The house is situated on a hill overlooking the City of Martinez and surrounded by nine acres of vineyards and orchards. Take a self-guided tour of this well-known Scottish naturalist's home. Also part of the site is the historic Martinez Adobe and Mount Wanda. Public Tours of the John Muir House, ongoing. Begin with an eight-minute park film and then take the tour. The film runs every 15 minutes throughout the day. Wednesday through Friday, 2 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

MOUNT WANDA -- The mountain consists of 325 acres of grass and oak woodland historically owned by the Muir family. It offers a nature trail and several fire trails for hiking. Open daily, sunrise to sunset.

JOHN MUIR HOUSE, ongoing. Tours of this well-known Scottish naturalist's home are available. The house, built in 1882, is a 14-room Victorian home situated on a hill overlooking the city of Martinez and surrounded by nine acres of vineyards and orchards. It was here that Muir wrote about preserving America's wilderness and helped create the national parks idea for the United States. The park also includes the historic Vicente Martinez Adobe, built in 1849. An eight-minute film about Muir and the site is shown every 15 minutes throughout the day at the Visitor Center. Self guided tours of the Muir home, the surrounding orchards, and the Martinez Adobe: Wednesday-Sunday, 1 a.m.-5 p.m. Public tours or the first floor of the Muir home: Wednesday-Friday, 2 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Reservations not required except for large groups.

LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM This is the oldest and largest wildlife rehabilitation center in America, taking in 6,000 injured and orphaned animals yearly and returning 40 percent of them to the wild. The museum offers a wide range of educational programs using non-releasable wild animals to teach children and adults respect for the balance of nature. The museum includes a state-of-the art wildlife hospital which features a permanent exhibit, titled "Living with Nature,'' which houses 75 non-releasable wild animals in learning environments; a 5,000-square-foot Wildlife Hospital complete with treatment rooms, intensive care, quarantine and laboratory facilities; a 1-acre Nature Garden featuring the region's native landscaping and wildlife; and an "Especially For Children'' exhibit.

WILDLIFE HOSPITAL -- September-March: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The hospital is open daily including holidays to receive injured and orphaned animals. There is no charge for treatment of native wild animals and there are no public viewing areas in the hospital.Ongoing.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. SHORELINE ongoing. This 1,200-acre park situated near Oakland International Airport offers picnic areas with barbecues and a boat launch ramp. Swimming is not allowed. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Grove, a group of trees surrounding a grassy glade, is at the intersection of Doolittle Drive and Swan Way. The area also includes the 50-acre Arrowhead Marsh (part of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network) and a Roger Berry sculpture titled "Duplex Cone,'' which traces the summer and winter solstice paths of the sun through the sky.

OAKLAND ZOO The zoo includes a Children's Petting Zoo, the Skyride, a miniature train, a carousel, picnic grounds and a gift shop as well as the animals in site specific exhibits, which allow them to roam freely. Included are "The African Savanna,'' with its two huge mixed-animal aviaries and 11 African Savanna exhibits; the Mahali Pa Tembo (Place of the Elephant), with giraffes, chimpanzees and more than 330 other animals from around the world; "Simba Pori,'' Swahili for "Lion Country,'' a spacious 1.5-acre habitat offering both a savanna and woodland setting for African lions; "Footprints from the Past,'' an anthropology exhibit showcasing four million years of human evolution and an actual "footpath'' of the first hominids to emerge from the African savanna; "Sun Bear Exhibit,'' a stateof-the-art space the zoo has developed for its two sun bears; and Siamang Island, a state-of-the-art, barrier-free area that emulates the gibbons' native tropical rain forest habitat. Also see the Malayan Fruit Bats from the Lubee Bat Conservancy in Florida that are now roosting in trees at the zoo. In addition there are special exhibits and events monthly. "Valley Children's Zoo," ongoing. The three-acre attraction offers a completely interactive experience for both children and adults. The exhibits include lemurs, giant fruit bats, otters, reptiles, insects and more. Daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"Endangered Species," ongoing. An exhibit of photographs about the most endangered animals on the Earth and what can be done to save them. At the Education Center. Open daily during zoo hours. ONGOING EVENTS --

"Wildlife Theater," ongoing. Saturday, 11:45 a.m.; Sunday, 1:45 p.m. On Saturday mornings listen to a story and meet a live animal. On Sunday afternoon meet live animals and learn cool facts about them. Meet in the Lobby of the Zoo's Maddie's Center for Science and Environmental Education. Free with regular Zoo admission. (510) 632-9525, ext. 142.Ongoing.

"Paws and Claws," Dec. 18 through Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Kids can meet Santa Claus, share their wish lists and have their pictures taken. A variety of other family-friendly events are planned for each day. See website for full details. $5 donation for picture with Santa.

PLEASANTON RIDGE REGIONAL PARK ongoing. This 3,163-acre parkland is on the oak-covered ridge overlooking Pleasanton and the Livermore Valley from the west. A multi-purpose trail system accommodates hikers, equestrians and bicyclists.

POINT PINOLE REGIONAL SHORELINE ongoing. The 2,315-acre parkland bordering Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo offers views of Mount Tamalpais, the Marin shoreline and San Pablo Bay. There are trails through meadows and woods, and along the bluffs and beaches of San Pablo Bay. Visitors can hike, ride bikes or take the park's shuttle bus to reach the 1,250-foot fishing pier at Point Pinole.

PREWETT FAMILY WATERPARK ongoing. There are pools and water slides for all ages, from the Tad Pool for toddlers to Boulder cove for older swimmers. In addition to fun pools and slides there are fitness pools for lessons and exercise, lawns for relaxing, locker rooms, community room and kitchen. Lap lanes are open year round. Food and beverages are not permitted in the park. Picnic tables are available outside the park.

QUARRY LAKES REGIONAL RECREATION AREA ongoing. The park includes three lakes sculpted from former quarry ponds. The largest, Horseshoe Lake, offers boating and fishing, with a swim beach that will open in the spring. Rainbow Lake is for fishing only, and the third lake, Lago Los Osos, is set aside for wildlife habitat. In addition, there are hiking and bicycling trails that connect to the Alameda Creek Regional Trail. The park includes three lakes sculpted from former quarry ponds. The largest, Horseshoe Lake, offers boating and fishing, with a swim beach that will open in the spring. Rainbow Lake is for fishing only, and the third lake, Lago Los Osos, is set aside for wildlife habitat. In addition there are hiking and bicycling trails that connect to the Alameda Creek Regional Trail.

RUTH BANCROFT GARDEN One of America's finest private gardens, the Ruth Bancroft Garden displays 2,000 specimens from around the world that thrive in an arid climate. Included are African and Mexican succulents, New World cacti, Australian and Chilean trees, and shrubs from California.

DOCENT TOUR SCHEDULE -- ongoing. 10 a.m. Saturdays. Docent-led tours last approximately an hour and a half. Plant sales follow the tour. By reservation only. $7; free children under age 12.

Gardens open only for tours and special events listed on the garden's telephone information line. 1500 Bancroft Road, Walnut Creek. (925) 210-9663, www.ruthbancroftgarden.org.

SHADOW CLIFFS REGIONAL RECREATION AREA ongoing. The 296-acre park includes an 80-acre lake and a four-flume waterslide, with picnic grounds and a swimming beach. Water slide fees and hours: (925) 829-6230.

SULPHUR CREEK NATURE CENTER A wildlife rehabilitation and education facility where injured and orphaned local wild creatures are rehabilitated and released when possible. There is also a lending library of animals such as guinea pigs, rats, mice and more. The lending fee is $8 per week. "Toddler Time," ongoing. Learn about animals by listening to stories and exploring. Themes vary by month. Call for schedule. $7 per family.

"Day on the Green Animal Presentations," ongoing. Meet an assortment of wild and domestic animals. Wildlife volunteers will present a different animal each day from possums to snakes, tortoises to hawks. Saturday and Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

SUNOL REGIONAL WILDERNESS This park is full of scenic and natural wonders. You can hike the Ohlone Wilderness trail or Little Yosemite. There are bedrock mortars that were used by Native Americans, who were Sunol's first inhabitants."Sunol Sunday Hike," ongoing. Sundays, 1:30-3 p.m. A natural history walk in the wilderness.

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission.

"Horse-Drawn Train," Thursday, Friday and Sunday. A 20-minute ride departs from Ardenwood Station and Deer Park.

"Animal Feeding," Thursday-Sunday, 3-4 p.m. Help slop the hogs, check the henhouse for eggs and bring hay to the livestock.

"Victorian Flower Arranging," Thursday, 10:15-11:30 a.m. Watch as Ardenwood docents create floral works of art for display in the Patterson House. "Potato Harvesting," ongoing. Learn the spectacular history of this New World native as you dig with your spade and help find the spuds.

"Toddler Time," ongoing. Tuesdays, 11-11:30 a.m. Bring the tiny tots out for an exciting morning at the farm. Meet and learn all about a new animal friend through stories, chores and fun.

"Bayfair Center's Holiday Season," through Dec. 24. A variety of holiday events are planned at the center, including the arrival of Santa on Nov. 20, photos with Santa throughout the month, and a host of different entertainers. See website for complete details.

AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM -- The museum's permanent exhibition of internationally renowned automobiles dated from 1897 to the 1980s. The cars are displayed as works of art with room to walk completely around each car to admire the workmanship. On long-term loan from the Smithsonian Institution is a Long Steam Tricycle; an 1893-94 Duryea, the first Duryea built by the Duryea brothers; and a 1948 Tucker, number 39 of the 51 Tuckers built, which is a Model 48 "Torpedo'' four-door sedan. "International Automotive Treasures," ongoing. An ever-changing exhibit featuring over 90 automobiles.

"A Journey on Common Ground," ongoing. An exhibit of moving photographs, video and art objects from around the world exploring the causes of disability and the efforts of the Wheelchair Foundation to provide a wheelchair for every person in need who cannot afford one. Free Public Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. Docent-led guided tours of the museum's exhibitions.

BUILD-A-BEAR WORKSHOP ongoing. An interactive place where children, and adults, can learn how a stuffed animal is made, then choose an animal pattern from the offering of bears, elephants, dogs and rabbits; stuff the chosen animal; dress it; and create a birth certificate. Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

ASK JEEVES PLANETARIUM -- Ongoing. The planetarium features one of the most advanced star projectors in the world. A daily planetarium show is included with general admission. Call for current show schedule.

"Tales Of The Maya Skies," ongoing. "Tales of the Maya Skies'' is a new full-dome planetarium show that explores the cosmology of the ancient Maya, along with their culture and their contributions to astronomy. Starts November 21.

"Space NOW!", ongoing. Each week, this real-time ride through constellations, stars, and planets will reflect current happenings in our sky. Space NOW! will also tie in activities going on throughout the center. This is Chabot's first daytime guided tour of the universe.

"Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity," ongoing. Take a ride to the inside of a massive black hole and learn about the latest scientific evidence, which suggests that black holes are real. Narrated by Liam Neeson. Suitable for age 12 and older. Free with General Admission ticket.

"Immersive Space: Fly Through the Cosmos," ongoing. Fridays, 8 p.m. Experience the "digital universe'' in a new full-dome system. Travel to the nearest star and beyond in seconds.

"Sunshine," ongoing. A 15-minute planetarium show for children ages 5 and under. In the show, Sunshine, a lovable animated cartoon of the Sun, urges children to sing and play along with his tricks. In the process, he introduces the colors of the day sky and the other suns of the night sky. Free with regular general admission.

"Secret of the Cardboard Rocket," ongoing. Take a journey through the solar system with two young adventurers who turn an old cardboard box into a rocket. Recommended for ages 5-10.

"The Search for Life: Are We Alone?" ongoing. A voyage from the ocean deep to the outer reaches of the cosmos in search of life, narrated by Harrison Ford.

"The Sky Tonight," ongoing. Saturdays, 8 p.m. Take a live tour of the starry sky overhead on the night of your visit. The show includes a look at constellations, planets and special celestial objects.

"Sonic Vision," ongoing. Friday-Saturday, 9:15 p.m. This show uses the latest digital technology to illuminate the planetarium with colorful computer-generated imagery set to today's popular music, including Radiohead, U2, David Bowie, Coldplay, Moby and more.

"Astronaut," ongoing. What does it take to be part of the exploration of space? Experience a rocket launch from inside the body of an astronaut. Explore the amazing worlds of inner and outer space, from floating around the International Space Station to maneuvering through microscopic regions of the human body. Narrated by Ewan McGregor. 25 min.Ongoing.

"Dinner, Movie and the Universe," ongoing. Every Friday and Saturday evening. Enjoy a bistro-style dinner, then cozy up for a film in the 70-foot MegaDome theater and end the evening with a telescope viewing. Call to purchase general admission tickets and to make dinner reservations. (510) 336-7373.

"Chabot Observatories: A View to the Stars," ongoing. This new permanent exhibit honors the 123-year history of Chabot and its telescopes. The observatory is one of the oldest public observatories in the United States. The exhibit covers the three different sites of the observatory over its history as well as how its historic telescopes continue to be operated today. Included are informative graphic panels, multimedia kiosks, interactive computer programs, hands-on stations, and historic artifacts.

TIEN MEGADOME SCIENCE THEATER -- Ongoing. A 70-foot dome-screen auditorium. Show times subject to change. Call for current show schedule. Price with paid general admission is $6-$7. Theater only: $7-$8. (510) 336-7373, www.ticketweb.com.

"Dinosaurs Alive," ongoing. A global adventure of science and discovery, featuring the earliest dinosaurs of the Triassic Period to the monsters of the Cretaceous, "reincarnated" life-sized for the giant screen. Audiences will journey with some of the world's preeminent paleontologists as they uncover evidence that the descendents of dinosaurs still walk (or fly) among us. From the exotic, trackless expanses and sand dunes of Mongolia's Gobi Desert to the dramatic sandstone buttes of New Mexico, the film will follow American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) paleontologists as they explore some of the greatest dinosaur finds in history.

"Cosmic Voyage," ongoing. A breathtaking journey through time and space. Zoom from the surface of the Earth to the largest observable structures of the Universe and back down to the sub-nuclear realm, a guided tour across some 42 orders of magnitude. Explore some of the greatest scientific theories, many of which have never before been visualized on film.

"Forces of Nature," ongoing. This film showcases the awesome spectacle of earthquakes, volcanoes, and severe storms as scientists continue their quests to understand how these natural disasters are triggered.

"The Living Sea," ongoing. The film celebrates the beauty, power and importance of the ocean. Produced in association with The National Maritime Center, the Ocean Film Network and Dr. Robert Ballard.

"The Human Body," ongoing. This show explores the daily biological processes that go on in the human body without our control and often without our notice. This amazing story is revealed in detail on the giant screen.

CHILDREN'S FAIRYLAND A fairy tale theme park featuring more than 30 colorful fantasy sets. Designed especially for children ages 10 and under, there are gentle rides, a train, the "Peter Rabbit Village,'' puppet shows, story-telling and lots of slides and animals. Admission price includes unlimited rides, special shows, guest entertainers and puppet shows.

OLD WEST JUNCTION -- Children's Fairyland's newest attraction is a Wild West-themed town sized just for children, with a livery stable, bank, jail and a water tower slide.

PUPPET SHOWS -- Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. All shows are at the Open Storybook Theatre. Free with regular Fairyland admission.

ANIMAL OF THE DAY -- Saturday and Sunday, 1-1:20 p.m. at the Humpty Dumpty Wall. Learn about one of Fairyland's animal friends."Animal of the Day!" ongoing. Saturdays and Sundays, 1-1:20 p.m. Come up close and learn about Fairyland's creatures.

"Arts and Crafts," ongoing. Noon-3 p.m. Event features arts and crafts projects for children and their families. $6.

"Walnut Creek On Ice," through Jan. 17. A special holiday time outdoor ice skating rink. See website for complete details. www.walnut-creek.com.

1375 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek.

CRAB COVE VISITOR CENTER At Crab Cove, you can see live underwater creatures and go into the San Francisco Bay from land. You can also travel back in time to Alameda's part. The goal is to increase understanding of the environmental importance of San Francisco Bay and the ocean ecosystem. Crab Cove's Indoor Aquarium and Exhibit Lab is one of the largest indoor aquariums in the East Bay."Sea Squirts," ongoing. 10-11:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Discover the wonders of nature with your little one. Registration is required. $6-$8.

"Catch of the Day," ongoing. Sundays, 2-3 p.m. Drop by to find out more about the Bay and its wildlife through guided exploration and hands-on fun.

"Sea Siblings," ongoing. Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Explore the natural world and take part in a theme related craft. Designed for the 3-5 year old learner. Registration is required.

DUNSMUIR HOUSE AND GARDENS HISTORIC ESTATE ongoing. Nestled in the Oakland hills, the 50-acre Dunsmuir House and Gardens estate includes the 37-room Neoclassical Revival Dunsmuir Mansion, built by coal and lumber baron Alexander Dunsmuir for his bride. Restored outbuildings set amid landscaped gardens surround the mansion.

ESTATE GROUNDS -- Ongoing. Self-Guided Grounds Tours are available yearround. The 50 acres of gardens and grounds at the mansion are open to the public for walking Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Booklets and maps of the grounds are available at the Dinkelspiel House. Free.

GUIDED TOURS -- Docent-led tours are available on the first Sunday of each month at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. (except for July) and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. $5 adults, $4 seniors and juniors (11-16), children 11 and under free.

FOREST HOME FARMS ongoing. The 16-acre former farm of the Boone family is now a municipal historic park in San Ramon. It is located at the base of the East Bay Hills and is divided into two parts by Oak Creek. The Boone House is a 22-room Dutch colonial that has been remodeled several times since it was built in 1900. Also on the property are a barn built in the period from 1850 to 1860; the Victorian-style David Glass House, dating from the late 1860s to early 1870s; a storage structure for farm equipment and automobiles; and a walnut processing plant.

HABITOT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM A museum especially for children ages 7 and under. Highlights include "WaterWorks,'' an area with some unusual water toys, an Infant Tree for babies, a garden especially for toddlers, a child-scale grocery store and cafe, and a costume shop and stage for junior thespians. The museum also features a toy lending library. "Waterworks." A water play gallery with rivers, a pumping station and a water table, designed to teach about water.

"Little Town Grocery and Cafe." Designed to create the ambience of shopping in a grocery store and eating in a restaurant.

"Infant-Toddler Garden." A picket fence gated indoor area, which includes a carrot patch with wooden carrots to be harvested, a pretend pond and a butterfly mobile to introduce youngsters to the concept of food, gardening and agriculture.

"Dramatic Arts Stage." Settings, backdrops and costumes coincide with seasonal events and holidays. Children can exercise their dramatic flair here.

"Wiggle Wall." The floor-to-ceiling "underground'' tunnels give children a worm's eye view of the world. The tunnels are laced with net covered openings and giant optic lenses.Ongoing.

HALL OF HEALTH ongoing. A community health-education museum and science center promoting wellness and individual responsibility for health. There are hands-on exhibits that teach about the workings of the human body, the value of a healthy diet and exercise, and the destructive effects of smoking and drug abuse. "Kids on the Block'' puppet shows, which use puppets from diverse cultures to teach about and promote acceptance of conditions such as cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, leukemia, blindness, arthritis and spina bifida, are available by request for community events and groups visiting the Hall on Saturdays. "This Is Your Heart!" ongoing. An interactive exhibit on heart health.

"Good Nutrition," ongoing. This exhibit includes models for making balanced meals and an Exercycle for calculating how calories are burned.

"Draw Your Own Insides," ongoing. Human-shaped chalkboards and models with removable organs allow visitors to explore the inside of their bodies.

"Your Cellular Self and Cancer Prevention," ongoing. An exhibit on understanding how cells become cancerous and how to detect and prevent cancer.

HAYWARD SHORELINE INTERPRETIVE CENTER Perched on stilts above a salt marsh, the Center offers an introduction to the San Francisco Bay-Estuary. It features exhibits, programs and activities designed to inspire a sense of appreciation, respect and stewardship for the Bay, its inhabitants and the services they provide. The Habitat Room offers a preview of what may be seen outside. The 80-gallon Bay Tank contains some of the fish that live in the Bay's open waters, and the Channel Tank represents habitats formed by the maze of sloughs and creeks that snake through the marsh. The main room of the Center features rotating exhibits about area history, plants and wildlife. Part of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. "Exploring Nature," ongoing. An exhibit of Shawn Gould's illustrations featuring images of the natural world.Ongoing.

JUNIOR CENTER OF ART AND SCIENCE ongoing. A center dedicated to encouraging children's active wonder and creative response through artistic and scientific exploration of their natural urban environment. The center's classes, workshops, exhibits and events integrate art and science. Three educational exhibits are mounted in the "Children's Gallery'' each year. A docent-led tour, demonstrations, hands-on activities and art projects are available to school groups throughout the year.

"Jake's Discovery Garden," ongoing. Jake's Discovery Garden is a new interactive studio exhibit designed for preschool-aged children and their adult caregivers that teaches young visitors about the natural environments found in their backyards, playgrounds and neighborhoods.Ongoing.

Free; programs and special exhibits have a fee. September through May: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June through August: Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 558 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. (510) 839-5777, www.juniorcenter.org.

LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE"NanoZone," ongoing. Discover the science of the super-small: nanotechnology. Through hands-on activities and games, explore this microworld and the scientific discoveries made in this area.

"Forces That Shape the Bay," ongoing. A science park that shows and explains why the San Francisco Bay is the way it is, with information on water, erosion, plate tectonics and mountain building. You can ride earthquake simulators, set erosion in motion and look far out into the bay with a powerful telescope from 1,100 feet above sea level. The center of the exhibit is a waterfall that demonstrates how water flows from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Bay. Visitors can control where the water goes. There are also hands-on erosion tables, and a 40-foot-long, 6-foothigh, rock compression wall.

"Real Astronomy Experience," ongoing. A new exhibit-in-development allowing visitors to use the tools that real astronomers use. Aim a telescope at a virtual sky and operate a remote-controlled telescope to measure a planet.

LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM This is the oldest and largest wildlife rehabilitation center in America, taking in 6,000 injured and orphaned animals yearly and returning 40 percent of them to the wild. The museum offers a wide range of educational programs using non-releasable wild animals to teach children and adults respect for the balance of nature. The museum includes a state-of-the art wildlife hospital which features a permanent exhibit, titled "Living with Nature,'' which houses 75 non-releasable wild animals in learning environments; a 5,000-square-foot Wildlife Hospital complete with treatment rooms, intensive care, quarantine and laboratory facilities; a 1-acre Nature Garden featuring the region's native landscaping and wildlife; and an "Especially For Children'' exhibit.

WILDLIFE HOSPITAL -- September-March: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The hospital is open daily including holidays to receive injured and orphaned animals. There is no charge for treatment of native wild animals and there are no public viewing areas in the hospital.Ongoing.

MCCONAGHY HOUSE The McConaghy Estate includes a 12-room farmhouse, tank house and carriage house. The home is furnished in the style of 1886, the date the house was built. The McConaghy House is one of the facilities of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. The Hayward Area Historical Society maintains the house and provides volunteer tour guides who give public tours when the house is open. The last tour leaves at 3:30 p.m.

"A Star Spangled Christmas," through Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.; 1-4 p.m. Sun. Every year the McConaghy House is transformed for the Christmas Holiday; this year the house will be decked out in patriotic ornaments and decorations. $3-$5.

MUSEUM OF CHILDREN'S ART A museum of art for and by children, with activities for children to participate in making their own art.

ART CAMPS -- Hands-on activities and engaging curriculum for children of different ages, led by professional artists and staff. $60 per day.

CLASSES -- A Sunday series of classes for children ages 8 to 12, led by Mocha artists. Sundays, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

OPEN STUDIOS -- Drop-in art play activities with new themes each week.

"Big Studio." Guided art projects for children age 6 and older with a Mocha artist. Tuesday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. $5.

"Little Studio." A hands-on experience that lets young artists age 18 months to 5 years see, touch and manipulate a variety of media. Children can get messy. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $5.

OAKLAND ZOO The zoo includes a Children's Petting Zoo, the Skyride, a miniature train, a carousel, picnic grounds and a gift shop as well as the animals in site specific exhibits, which allow them to roam freely. Included are "The African Savanna,'' with its two huge mixed-animal aviaries and 11 African Savanna exhibits; the Mahali Pa Tembo (Place of the Elephant), with giraffes, chimpanzees and more than 330 other animals from around the world; "Simba Pori,'' Swahili for "Lion Country,'' a spacious 1.5-acre habitat offering both a savanna and woodland setting for African lions; "Footprints from the Past,'' an anthropology exhibit showcasing four million years of human evolution and an actual "footpath'' of the first hominids to emerge from the African savanna; "Sun Bear Exhibit,'' a stateof-the-art space the zoo has developed for its two sun bears; and Siamang Island, a state-of-the-art, barrier-free area that emulates the gibbons' native tropical rain forest habitat. Also see the Malayan Fruit Bats from the Lubee Bat Conservancy in Florida that are now roosting in trees at the zoo. In addition there are special exhibits and events monthly. "Valley Children's Zoo," ongoing. The three-acre attraction offers a completely interactive experience for both children and adults. The exhibits include lemurs, giant fruit bats, otters, reptiles, insects and more. Daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"Endangered Species," ongoing. An exhibit of photographs about the most endangered animals on the Earth and what can be done to save them. At the Education Center. Open daily during zoo hours. ONGOING EVENTS --

"Wildlife Theater," ongoing. Saturday, 11:45 a.m.; Sunday, 1:45 p.m. On Saturday mornings listen to a story and meet a live animal. On Sunday afternoon meet live animals and learn cool facts about them. Meet in the Lobby of the Zoo's Maddie's Center for Science and Environmental Education. Free with regular Zoo admission. (510) 632-9525, ext. 142.Ongoing.

"Paws and Claws," Dec. 18 through Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Kids can meet Santa Claus, share their wish lists and have their pictures taken. A variety of other family-friendly events are planned for each day. See website for full details. $5 donation for picture with Santa.

PIXIELAND AMUSEMENT PARK ongoing. This amusement park for children features pixie-sized rides such as a dragon roller coaster, swirling tea cups, a carousel, red baron airplanes, an antique car ride and a miniature train among other attractions sure to please the little ones. Classic carnival-style food and souvenirs round out the experience. Admission to the park is free; ride tickets are $1.25 each or 10 tickets for $10; Day wrist band for unlimited rides, $25. Specials and season passes are also available.

POINT PINOLE REGIONAL SHORELINE ongoing. The 2,315-acre parkland bordering Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo offers views of Mount Tamalpais, the Marin shoreline and San Pablo Bay. There are trails through meadows and woods, and along the bluffs and beaches of San Pablo Bay. Visitors can hike, ride bikes or take the park's shuttle bus to reach the 1,250-foot fishing pier at Point Pinole.

PREWETT FAMILY WATERPARK ongoing. There are pools and water slides for all ages, from the Tad Pool for toddlers to Boulder cove for older swimmers. In addition to fun pools and slides there are fitness pools for lessons and exercise, lawns for relaxing, locker rooms, community room and kitchen. Lap lanes are open year round. Food and beverages are not permitted in the park. Picnic tables are available outside the park.

SHADOW CLIFFS REGIONAL RECREATION AREA ongoing. The 296-acre park includes an 80-acre lake and a four-flume waterslide, with picnic grounds and a swimming beach. Water slide fees and hours: (925) 829-6230.

SULPHUR CREEK NATURE CENTER A wildlife rehabilitation and education facility where injured and orphaned local wild creatures are rehabilitated and released when possible. There is also a lending library of animals such as guinea pigs, rats, mice and more. The lending fee is $8 per week. "Toddler Time," ongoing. Learn about animals by listening to stories and exploring. Themes vary by month. Call for schedule. $7 per family.

"Day on the Green Animal Presentations," ongoing. Meet an assortment of wild and domestic animals. Wildlife volunteers will present a different animal each day from possums to snakes, tortoises to hawks. Saturday and Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

USS HORNET MUSEUM Come aboard this World War II aircraft carrier that has been converted into a floating museum. The Hornet, launched in 1943, is 899 feet long and 27 stories high. During World War II she was never hit by an enemy strike or plane and holds the Navy record for number of enemy planes shot down in a week. In 1969 the Hornet recovered the Apollo 11 space capsule containing the first men to walk on the moon, and later recovered Apollo 12. In 1991 the Hornet was designated a National Historic Landmark and is now docked at the same pier she sailed from in 1944. Today, visitors can tour the massive ship, view World War II-era warplanes and experience a simulated aircraft launch from the carrier's deck. Exhibits are being added on an ongoing basis. Allow two to three hours for a visit. Wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to climb steep stairs or ladders. Dress in layers as the ship can be cold. Arrive no later than 2 p.m. to sign up for the engine room and other docent-led tours. Children under age 12 are not allowed in the Engine Room or the Combat Information Center. "Limited Access Day," ongoing. Due to ship maintenance, tours of the navigation bridge and the engine room are not available. Tuesdays.

"Flight Deck Fun," ongoing. A former Landing Signal Officer will show children how to bring in a fighter plane for a landing on the deck then let them try the signals themselves. Times vary. Free with regular Museum admission.

"Protestant Divine Services," ongoing. Hornet chaplain John Berger conducts church services aboard The Hornet in the Wardroom Lounge. Everyone is welcome and refreshments are served immediately following the service. Sundays, 11 a.m.Ongoing. Closed on New Year's Day.

"Family Day," ongoing. Discounted admission for families of four with a further discount for additional family members. Access to some of the areas may be limited due to ship maintenance. Every Tuesday. $20 for family of four; $5 for each additional family member.

"History Mystery After Hours Tour," ongoing. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Explore the USS Hornet after hours and learn the history of this ship while it is illuminated in red lights used for "night ops." Also, hear stories about the ships' legendary haunts. Reservations required. (510) 521-8448 X282.

"Flashlight Tour," ongoing. 8:30 a.m. Receive a special tour of areas aboard the ship that have not yet been opened to the public or that have limited access during the day. $30-$35 per person.

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND ongoing. The Oakland Public Library's museum is designed to discover, preserve, interpret and share the cultural and historical experiences of African Americans in California and the West. In addition, a three-panel mural is on permanent display.

ALAMEDA MUSEUM ongoing. The museum offers permanent displays of Alameda history, the only rotating gallery showcasing local Alameda artists and student artwork, as well as souvenirs, books and videos about the rich history of the Island City.

BADE MUSEUM AT THE PACIFIC SCHOOL OF RELIGION The museum's collections include the Tell en-Nasbeh Collection, consisting of artifacts excavated from Tell en-Nasbeh in Palestine in 1926 and 1935 by William Badh, and the Howell Bible Collection, featuring approximately 300 rare books (primarily Bibles) dating from the 15th through the 18th centuries.

"Tell en-Nasbeh," ongoing. This exhibit is the "heart and soul" of the Bade Museum. It displays a wealth of finds from the excavations at Tell en-Nasbeh, Palestine whose objects span from the Early Bronze Age (3100-2200 BC) through the Iron Age (1200-586 BC) and into the Roman and Hellenistic periods. Highlights of the exhibit include "Tools of the Trade" featuring real archaeological tools used by Badh and his team, an oil lamp typology, a Second Temple period (586 BC-70 AD) limestone ossuary, and a selection of painted Greek pottery.

"William Frederic Bade: Theologian, Naturalist, and Archaeologist," ongoing. This exhibit highlights one of PSR's premier educators and innovative scholars. The collection of material on display was chosen with the hopes of representing the truly dynamic and multifaceted character of William F. Badh. He was a family man, a dedicated teacher, a loving friend, and an innovative and passionate archaeologist.

"Thom Faulders: BAMscape," through Nov. 30. This commissioned work, a hybrid of sculpture, furniture, and stage, is the new centerpiece of Gallery B, BAM's expansive central atrium. It is part of a new vision of the gallery as a space for interaction, performance, and improvised experiences.

"Himalayan Pilgrimage," through Dec. 19. Exhibition features sculpture and painting dating from the ninth to the eighteenth centuries and drawn from a private collection on long-term loan to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley.

BLACKHAWK MUSEUM ongoing.

AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM -- The museum's permanent exhibition of internationally renowned automobiles dated from 1897 to the 1980s. The cars are displayed as works of art with room to walk completely around each car to admire the workmanship. On long-term loan from the Smithsonian Institution is a Long Steam Tricycle; an 1893-94 Duryea, the first Duryea built by the Duryea brothers; and a 1948 Tucker, number 39 of the 51 Tuckers built, which is a Model 48 "Torpedo'' four-door sedan. "International Automotive Treasures," ongoing. An ever-changing exhibit featuring over 90 automobiles.

"A Journey on Common Ground," ongoing. An exhibit of moving photographs, video and art objects from around the world exploring the causes of disability and the efforts of the Wheelchair Foundation to provide a wheelchair for every person in need who cannot afford one. Free Public Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. Docent-led guided tours of the museum's exhibitions.

HISTORY WALKABOUTS -- ongoing. A series of walking tours that explore the history, lore and architecture of California with veteran tour guide Gary Holloway. Walks are given on specific weekends. There is a different meeting place for each weekend and walks take place rain or shine so dress for the weather. Reservations and prepayment required. Meeting place will be given with confirmation of tour reservation. Call for details.

"Beyond Blastoff: Surviving in Space," ongoing. An interactive exhibit that allows you to immerse yourself into the life of an astronaut to experience the mixture of exhilaration, adventure and confinement that is living and working in space.

"Chabot Observatories: A View to the Stars," ongoing. Explore the history of the Chabot observatories and how its historic telescopes are used today. Daytime visitors can virtually operate a telescope, experiment with mirrors and lenses to understand how telescopes create images of distant objects and travel through more than a century of Chabot's history via multimedia kiosks, historical images and artifact displays. "Daytime Telescope Viewing," ongoing. Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. View the sun, the moon and the planets through the telescopes during the day. Free with general admission.

"Galaxy Explorers Hands-On Fun," ongoing. Saturday, noon-4 p.m. The Galaxy Explorers lead a variety of fun, hands-on activities, such as examining real spacesuits, creating galaxy flipbooks, learning about telescopes, minerals and skulls and making your own comet. Free with general admission.

HABITOT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM A museum especially for children ages 7 and under. Highlights include "WaterWorks,'' an area with some unusual water toys, an Infant Tree for babies, a garden especially for toddlers, a child-scale grocery store and cafe, and a costume shop and stage for junior thespians. The museum also features a toy lending library. "Waterworks." A water play gallery with rivers, a pumping station and a water table, designed to teach about water.

"Little Town Grocery and Cafe." Designed to create the ambience of shopping in a grocery store and eating in a restaurant.

"Infant-Toddler Garden." A picket fence gated indoor area, which includes a carrot patch with wooden carrots to be harvested, a pretend pond and a butterfly mobile to introduce youngsters to the concept of food, gardening and agriculture.

"Dramatic Arts Stage." Settings, backdrops and costumes coincide with seasonal events and holidays. Children can exercise their dramatic flair here.

"Wiggle Wall." The floor-to-ceiling "underground'' tunnels give children a worm's eye view of the world. The tunnels are laced with net covered openings and giant optic lenses.

HALL OF HEALTH ongoing. A community health-education museum and science center promoting wellness and individual responsibility for health. There are hands-on exhibits that teach about the workings of the human body, the value of a healthy diet and exercise, and the destructive effects of smoking and drug abuse. "Kids on the Block'' puppet shows, which use puppets from diverse cultures to teach about and promote acceptance of conditions such as cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, leukemia, blindness, arthritis and spina bifida, are available by request for community events and groups visiting the Hall on Saturdays. "This Is Your Heart!" ongoing. An interactive exhibit on heart health.

"Good Nutrition," ongoing. This exhibit includes models for making balanced meals and an Exercycle for calculating how calories are burned.

"Draw Your Own Insides," ongoing. Human-shaped chalkboards and models with removable organs allow visitors to explore the inside of their bodies.

"Your Cellular Self and Cancer Prevention," ongoing. An exhibit on understanding how cells become cancerous and how to detect and prevent cancer.

HAYWARD AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM The museum is located in a former post office and displays memorabilia of early Hayward and southern Alameda County. Some of the features include a restored 1923 Seagrave fire engine and a hand pumper from the Hayward Fire Department, founded in 1865; a Hayward Police Department exhibit; information on city founder William Hayward; and pictures of the old Hayward Hotel. The museum also alternates three exhibits per year, including a Christmas Toys exhibit and a 1950s lifestyle exhibit.50 cents-$1. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. 22701 Main St., Hayward. (510) 581-0223, www.haywardareahistory.org.

JUDAH L. MAGNES MUSEUM The museum's permanent collection includes objects of Jewish importance including ceremonial art, film and video, folk art and fine art, paintings, sculptures and prints by contemporary and historical artists.

LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE"NanoZone," ongoing. Discover the science of the super-small: nanotechnology. Through hands-on activities and games, explore this microworld and the scientific discoveries made in this area.

"Forces That Shape the Bay," ongoing. A science park that shows and explains why the San Francisco Bay is the way it is, with information on water, erosion, plate tectonics and mountain building. You can ride earthquake simulators, set erosion in motion and look far out into the bay with a powerful telescope from 1,100 feet above sea level. The center of the exhibit is a waterfall that demonstrates how water flows from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Bay. Visitors can control where the water goes. There are also hands-on erosion tables, and a 40-foot-long, 6-foothigh, rock compression wall.

"Real Astronomy Experience," ongoing. A new exhibit-in-development allowing visitors to use the tools that real astronomers use. Aim a telescope at a virtual sky and operate a remote-controlled telescope to measure a planet.

"Animal Discovery Room,,' ongoing. 1:30-4 p.m. Visitors of all ages can hold and touch gentle animals, learn about their behavior and habitats and play with self-guided activities and specimen models.

"Forces That Shape the Bay," ongoing. This science park shows and explains why the San Francisco Bay is the way it is, with information on water, erosion, plate tectonics and mountain building.

"Ingenuity in Action," ongoing. Summer 2010. Enjoy the best of the Ingenuity Lab. Engage your creative brain and use a variety of materials to design, build and test your own innovations.

"Kapla," ongoing. Play with simple, versatile building blocks that can be used to build very large, high and stable structures.

"KidsLab," ongoing. This multisensory play area includes larger-than-life blocks, a crawl-through kaleidoscope, the Gravity wall, a puppet theater and a reading area.

"NanoZone," ongoing. Discover the science of nanotechnology through handson activities and games.

"Planetarium," ongoing. Explore the skies in this interactive planetarium.

"Science on a Sphere," ongoing. Catch an out-of-this-world experience with an animated globe. See hurricanes form, tsunamis sweep across the oceans and city lights glow around the planet. "Scream Machines -- The Science of Roller Coasters, through Jan. 2. This head-spinning, stomach-churning exhibition for thrill-seekers features interactive exhibits, artifacts and images to explore.

LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM This is the oldest and largest wildlife rehabilitation center in America, taking in 6,000 injured and orphaned animals yearly and returning 40 percent of them to the wild. The museum offers a wide range of educational programs using non-releasable wild animals to teach children and adults respect for the balance of nature. The museum includes a state-of-the art wildlife hospital which features a permanent exhibit, titled "Living with Nature,'' which houses 75 non-releasable wild animals in learning environments; a 5,000-square-foot Wildlife Hospital complete with treatment rooms, intensive care, quarantine and laboratory facilities; a 1-acre Nature Garden featuring the region's native landscaping and wildlife; and an "Especially For Children'' exhibit.

WILDLIFE HOSPITAL -- September-March: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The hospital is open daily including holidays to receive injured and orphaned animals. There is no charge for treatment of native wild animals and there are no public viewing areas in the hospital.SPECIAL EVENTS -- ongoing.

MEYERS HOUSE AND GARDEN MUSEUM The Meyers House, erected in 1897, is an example of Colonial Revival, an architectural style popular around the turn of the century. Designed by Henry H. Meyers,the house was built by his father, Jacob Meyers, at a cost of $4000.00.$3. Fourth Saturday of every month. 2021 Alameda Ave., Alameda. (510) 521-1247, www.alamedamuseum.org/meyers.html.

MUSEUM OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE VILLAGE ongoing. A science museum with an African-American focus promoting science education and awareness for the underrepresented. The science village chronicles the technical achievements of people of African descent from ancient ties to present. There are computer classes at the Internet Cafi, science education activities and seminars. There is also a resource library with a collection of books, periodicals and videotapes.

MUSEUM OF CHILDREN'S ART A museum of art for and by children, with activities for children to participate in making their own art.

ART CAMPS -- Hands-on activities and engaging curriculum for children of different ages, led by professional artists and staff. $60 per day.

CLASSES -- A Sunday series of classes for children ages 8 to 12, led by Mocha artists. Sundays, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

OPEN STUDIOS -- Drop-in art play activities with new themes each week.

"Big Studio." Guided art projects for children age 6 and older with a Mocha artist. Tuesday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. $5.

"Little Studio." A hands-on experience that lets young artists age 18 months to 5 years see, touch and manipulate a variety of media. Children can get messy. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $5.

MUSEUM OF THE SAN RAMON VALLEY The museum features local artifacts, pictures, flags and drawings commemorating the valley's history. It also houses a historical narrative frieze. In addition to a permanent exhibit on the valley's history, the museum sponsors revolving exhibits and several guided tours. The restored railroad depot that houses the museum was built on the San Ramon Branch Line of the Southern Pacific Railroad 108 years ago.Free. August: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. The Depot, West Prospect and Railroad avenues, Danville. (925) 837-3750, www.museumsrv.org.

MUSEUM ON MAIN STREET Located in a former town hall building, this museum is a piece of local history. It has a photo and document archive, collection of artifacts, local history publications for purchase, and a history library. It is supported by the Amador-Livermore Valley Historical Society.$2. Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m.; CLOSED DEC. 23-JAN. 8. 603 Main St., Pleasanton. (925) 462-2766, www.museumonmain.org.

"Online Museum," Thursdays, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Explore the museum's collection on videodisks in the History Department Library.

Docent Gallery Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m.

"Explore our New Gallery," through Dec. 2. The new Gallery of California Art showcases more than 800 works from OMCA's collection-one of the largest and most comprehensive holdings of California art in the world.

"Gallery of California History," through Dec. 2. This new gallery is based on the theme of Coming to California.

OPENING -- "Pixar: 25 Years of Animation," through Jan. 9. Exhibition presents an unprecedented look at the Emeryville-based animation company.

$5-$8; free for children ages 5 and under; free to all on the second Sunday of the month. Special events are free with museum admission unless noted otherwise. Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. 1000 Oak St., Oakland. (510) 238-2200, www.museumca.org.

PARDEE HOME MUSEUM ongoing. The historic Pardee Mansion, a three-story Italianate villa built in 1868, was home to three generations of the Pardee family who were instrumental in the civic and cultural development of California and Oakland. The home includes the house, grounds, water tower and barn. Reservations recommended. Group tours may be arranged between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tues.-Sun.

Private Tours and Teas: Take a private tour followed by tea in the Pardee family dining room (available for 4-12 persons).

Tour with light tea: $12 per person

Tour with high tea: $25 per person.

High tea without tour: $20 per person.

$5-$25; free children ages 12 and under. House Tours: 10:30 a.m. every Wednesday and second Saturday of each month; 2 p.m. the second Sunday or each month. 672 11th St., Oakland. (510) 444-2187, www.pardeehome.org.

SAN LEANDRO HISTORY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY ongoing. The museum showcases local and regional history and serves as a centerpiece for community cultural activity. There are exhibits on Ohlone settlements, farms of early settlers, and contributions of Portuguese and other immigrants. There will also be exhibits of the city's agricultural past and the industrial development of the 19th century. "Yema/Po Archeological Site at Lake Chabot," ongoing. An exhibit highlighting artifacts uncovered from a work camp of Chinese laborers, featuring photomurals, cutouts and historical photographs.

SHADELANDS RANCH HISTORICAL MUSEUM Built by Walnut Creek pioneer Hiram Penniman, this 1903 redwood-framed house is a showcase for numerous historical artifacts, many of which belonged to the Pennimans. It also houses a rich archive of Contra Costa and Walnut Creek history in its collections of old newspapers, photographs and government records.$1-$3; free-children under age 6. Wednesday and Sunday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m.; Closed in January. 2660 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek. (925) 935-7871, www.ci.walnut-creek.ca.us.

SMITH MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, HAYWARD The museum houses significant collections of archaeological and ethnographic specimens from Africa, Asia and North America and small collections from Central and South America. The museum offers opportunities and materials for student research and internships in archaeology and ethnology.Free. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Meiklejohn Hall, Fourth Floor, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., Hayward. (510) 885-3104, (510) 885-7414, www.isis.csuhayward.edu/cesmith/acesmith.html.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY HEARST MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY ongoing. "Native California Cultures," ongoing. This is an exhibit of some 500 artifacts from the museum's California collections, the largest and most comprehensive collections in the world devoted to California Indian cultures. The exhibit includes a section about Ishi, the famous Indian who lived and worked with the museum, Yana tribal baskets and a 17-foot Yurok canoe carved from a single redwood.

"Recent Acquisitions," ongoing. The collection includes Yoruba masks and carvings from Africa, early-20th-century Taiwanese hand puppets, textiles from the Americas and 19th- and 20th-century Tibetan artifacts.

"From the Maker's Hand: Selections from the Permanent Collection," ongoing. This exhibit explores human ingenuity in the living and historical cultures of China, Africa, Egypt, Peru, North America and the Meditteranean.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY ongoing. "Tyrannosaurus Rex," ongoing. A 20-foot-tall, 40-foot-long replica of the fearsome dinosaur. The replica is made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing.

"Pteranodon," ongoing. A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22 to 23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.

"California Fossils Exhibit," ongoing. An exhibit of some of the fossils that have been excavated in California.

USS HORNET MUSEUM Come aboard this World War II aircraft carrier that has been converted into a floating museum. The Hornet, launched in 1943, is 899 feet long and 27 stories high. During World War II she was never hit by an enemy strike or plane and holds the Navy record for number of enemy planes shot down in a week. In 1969 the Hornet recovered the Apollo 11 space capsule containing the first men to walk on the moon, and later recovered Apollo 12. In 1991 the Hornet was designated a National Historic Landmark and is now docked at the same pier she sailed from in 1944. Today, visitors can tour the massive ship, view World War II-era warplanes and experience a simulated aircraft launch from the carrier's deck. Exhibits are being added on an ongoing basis. Allow two to three hours for a visit. Wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to climb steep stairs or ladders. Dress in layers as the ship can be cold. Arrive no later than 2 p.m. to sign up for the engine room and other docent-led tours. Children under age 12 are not allowed in the Engine Room or the Combat Information Center. "Limited Access Day," ongoing. Due to ship maintenance, tours of the navigation bridge and the engine room are not available. Tuesdays.

"Flight Deck Fun," ongoing. A former Landing Signal Officer will show children how to bring in a fighter plane for a landing on the deck then let them try the signals themselves. Times vary. Free with regular Museum admission.

"Protestant Divine Services," ongoing. Hornet chaplain John Berger conducts church services aboard The Hornet in the Wardroom Lounge. Everyone is welcome and refreshments are served immediately following the service. Sundays, 11 a.m.Closed on New Year's Day.

"Family Day," ongoing. Discounted admission for families of four with a further discount for additional family members. Access to some of the areas may be limited due to ship maintenance. Every Tuesday. $20 for family of four; $5 for each additional family member.

"History Mystery After Hours Tour," ongoing. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Explore the USS Hornet after hours and learn the history of this ship while it is illuminated in red lights used for "night ops." Also, hear stories about the ships' legendary haunts. Reservations required. (510) 521-8448 X282.

"Flashlight Tour," ongoing. 8:30 a.m. Receive a special tour of areas aboard the ship that have not yet been opened to the public or that have limited access during the day. $30-$35 per person.

"BERKELEY ARTISANS HOLIDAY OPEN STUDIOS," -- through Dec. 19. More than 100 artists and craftspeople will be showing their works, including glass, ceramics, furniture, photography, paintings, and much more.

Free.11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun.www.berkeleyartisans.com.

"HOLIDAY HOME TOUR," -- Dec. 10 and Dec. 11. Tour five beautifully decorated homes in the Danville and Alamo area; call or see website for more details.

"The ABCs of Painting in the New Kingdom," Dec. 12, 2:30 p.m. Dr. Betsy Bryan of Johns Hopkins University gives a lecture. Free.

BARROW LANE AND BANCROFT WAY, ROOM 20, BERKELEY.

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE

"The Arabian Nights," Dec. 11 through Dec. 30. Tony Award-winner Mary Zimmerman brings her adaptation of "The Arabian Nights'' back to Berkeley for the holidays. See website for complete listings of performance dates and times. $17.50-$73.

MCCONAGHY HOUSE The McConaghy Estate includes a 12-room farmhouse, tank house and carriage house. The home is furnished in the style of 1886, the date the house was built. The McConaghy House is one of the facilities of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. The Hayward Area Historical Society maintains the house and provides volunteer tour guides who give public tours when the house is open. The last tour leaves at 3:30 p.m.

"A Star Spangled Christmas," through Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.; 1-4 p.m. Sun. Every year the McConaghy House is transformed for the Christmas Holiday; this year the house will be decked out in patriotic ornaments and decorations. $3-$5.

"Spark! Circus Benefit Show," Dec. 10, 8 p.m. Event features a dozen circus acts, a live band, and more; all benefitting an outreach circus that performs for children in refugee camps, hospitals and more. $10-$20.

"BERKELEY ARTISANS HOLIDAY OPEN STUDIOS," -- through Dec. 19. More than 100 artists and craftspeople will be showing their works, including glass, ceramics, furniture, photography, paintings, and much more.

Free.11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun.www.berkeleyartisans.com.

"BERKELEY POTTER'S GUILD HOLIDAY EXHIBITION," -- through Dec. 24. A diverse array of pottery and sculpture will be available at this annual sale and show. Event takes place at 731 Jones St., Berkeley.

Free.10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun.www.berkeleyptters.com.

"HOLIDAY HOME TOUR," -- Dec. 10 and Dec. 11. Tour five beautifully decorated homes in the Danville and Alamo area; call or see website for more details.

"I Like My Bike Night," ongoing. 9 p.m. First Fridays of the month. This monthly series brings bicycle innovators, enthusiasts, artists and organizations together under one roof, as well as encourages regular Ashkenaz show-goers to leave their cars in the driveway and arrive at the venue by bicycle instead. $8-$25.

"ArtiFacts: A Lecture Series for Collectors," ongoing. 3 p.m. First Sundays of the month Guest curators, scholars and conservation experts from throughout the Bay Area discuss the art of collecting. First Sunday of every month, 3 p.m. $7; includes a preview of the monthly estate auction which takes place the following day at 10am.

"Bayfair Center's Holiday Season," through Dec. 24. A variety of holiday events are planned at the center, including the arrival of Santa on Nov. 20, photos with Santa throughout the month, and a host of different entertainers. See website for complete details.

"California Genealogical Society and Library Free First Saturday," ongoing. 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Event takes place on the first Saturday of every month, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Trace and compile your family history at this month's open house event. Free. www.calgensoc.org.

2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland. (510) 663-1358.

CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

HISTORY WALKABOUTS -- ongoing. A series of walking tours that explore the history, lore and architecture of California with veteran tour guide Gary Holloway. Walks are given on specific weekends. There is a different meeting place for each weekend and walks take place rain or shine so dress for the weather. Reservations and prepayment required. Meeting place will be given with confirmation of tour reservation. Call for details.

"Dinner Theater Magic Show," ongoing. 7:30 p.m. Fri - Sat. Enter the joyous and bewildering world of illusion while chowing down on a home cooked meal. Each weekend features different professional magicians. Recommended for ages 13 and older. $54-$64 includes meal.

ASK JEEVES PLANETARIUM -- ongoing. The planetarium features one of the most advanced star projectors in the world. A daily planetarium show is included with general admission. Call for current show schedule.

"Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity," ongoing. Take a ride to the inside of a massive black hole and learn about the latest scientific evidence, which suggests that black holes are real. Narrated by Liam Neeson. Suitable for age 12 and older. Free with General Admission ticket.

"Tales Of The Maya Skies," ongoing. "Tales of the Maya Skies'' is a new full-dome planetarium show that explores the cosmology of the ancient Maya, along with their culture and their contributions to astronomy. Starts November 21.

"Sunshine," ongoing. A 15-minute planetarium show for children ages 5 and under. In the show, Sunshine, a lovable animated cartoon of the Sun, urges children to sing and play along with his tricks. In the process, he introduces the colors of the day sky and the other suns of the night sky. Free with regular general admission.

"Immersive Space: Fly Through the Cosmos," ongoing. Fridays, 8 p.m. Experience the "digital universe'' in a new full-dome system. Travel to the nearest star and beyond in seconds.

"Space NOW!", ongoing. Each week, this real-time ride through constellations, stars, and planets will reflect current happenings in our sky. Space NOW! will also tie in activities going on throughout the center. This is Chabot's first daytime guided tour of the universe.

"The Search for Life: Are We Alone?" ongoing. A voyage from the ocean deep to the outer reaches of the cosmos in search of life, narrated by Harrison Ford.

"The Sky Tonight," ongoing. Saturdays, 8 p.m. Take a live tour of the starry sky overhead on the night of your visit. The show includes a look at constellations, planets and special celestial objects.

"Sonic Vision," ongoing. Friday-Saturday, 9:15 p.m. This show uses the latest digital technology to illuminate the planetarium with colorful computer-generated imagery set to today's popular music, including Radiohead, U2, David Bowie, Coldplay, Moby and more.

"Secret of the Cardboard Rocket," ongoing. Take a journey through the solar system with two young adventurers who turn an old cardboard box into a rocket. Recommended for ages 5-10.

"Astronaut," ongoing. What does it take to be part of the exploration of space? Experience a rocket launch from inside the body of an astronaut. Explore the amazing worlds of inner and outer space, from floating around the International Space Station to maneuvering through microscopic regions of the human body. Narrated by Ewan McGregor. 25 min.

CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER -- ongoing. "Escape from the Red Planet,'' a cooperative venture for families and groups of up to 14 people, age 8 and up. The scenario on this one hour mission: You are the crew of a shuttle to Mars that has been severely damaged in a crash landing. Your replacement crew is gone, the worst dust storm ever recorded on Mars approaches, and air, food, and water are extremely low. The mission: get the shuttle working again and into orbit before the dust storm hits. Reservations required. Children age 8-12 must be accompanied by an adult; not appropriate for children under age 8. $12-$15; Does not include general admission to the Center. Reservations: (510) 336-7421."Chabot Observatories: A View to the Stars," ongoing. This new permanent exhibit honors the 123-year history of Chabot and its telescopes. The observatory is one of the oldest public observatories in the United States. The exhibit covers the three different sites of the observatory over its history as well as how its historic telescopes continue to be operated today. Included are informative graphic panels, multimedia kiosks, interactive computer programs, hands-on stations, and historic artifacts.

"Dinner, Movie and the Universe," ongoing. Every Friday and Saturday evening. Enjoy a bistro-style dinner, then cozy up for a film in the 70-foot MegaDome theater and end the evening with a telescope viewing. Call to purchase general admission tickets and to make dinner reservations. (510) 336-7373.

TIEN MEGADOME SCIENCE THEATER -- ongoing. A 70-foot dome-screen auditorium. Show times subject to change. Call for current show schedule. Price with paid general admission is $6-$7. Theater only: $7-$8. (510) 336-7373, www.ticketweb.com.

"Forces of Nature," ongoing. This film showcases the awesome spectacle of earthquakes, volcanoes, and severe storms as scientists continue their quests to understand how these natural disasters are triggered.

"The Living Sea," ongoing. The film celebrates the beauty, power and importance of the ocean. Produced in association with The National Maritime Center, the Ocean Film Network and Dr. Robert Ballard.

"The Human Body," ongoing. This show explores the daily biological processes that go on in the human body without our control and often without our notice. This amazing story is revealed in detail on the giant screen.

"Dinosaurs Alive," ongoing. A global adventure of science and discovery, featuring the earliest dinosaurs of the Triassic Period to the monsters of the Cretaceous, "reincarnated" life-sized for the giant screen. Audiences will journey with some of the world's preeminent paleontologists as they uncover evidence that the descendents of dinosaurs still walk (or fly) among us. From the exotic, trackless expanses and sand dunes of Mongolia's Gobi Desert to the dramatic sandstone buttes of New Mexico, the film will follow American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) paleontologists as they explore some of the greatest dinosaur finds in history.

"Cosmic Voyage," ongoing. A breathtaking journey through time and space. Zoom from the surface of the Earth to the largest observable structures of the Universe and back down to the sub-nuclear realm, a guided tour across some 42 orders of magnitude. Explore some of the greatest scientific theories, many of which have never before been visualized on film.

"Walnut Creek On Ice," through Jan. 17. A special holiday time outdoor ice skating rink. See website for complete details. www.walnut-creek.com.

1375 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek.

CRAB COVE VISITOR CENTER At Crab Cove, you can see live underwater creatures and go into the San Francisco Bay from land. You can also travel back in time to Alameda's part. The goal is to increase understanding of the environmental importance of San Francisco Bay and the ocean ecosystem. Crab Cove's Indoor Aquarium and Exhibit Lab is one of the largest indoor aquariums in the East Bay.

DUNSMUIR HOUSE AND GARDENS HISTORIC ESTATE ongoing. Nestled in the Oakland hills, the 50-acre Dunsmuir House and Gardens estate includes the 37-room Neoclassical Revival Dunsmuir Mansion, built by coal and lumber baron Alexander Dunsmuir for his bride. Restored outbuildings set amid landscaped gardens surround the mansion.

ESTATE GROUNDS -- ongoing. Self-Guided Grounds Tours are available yearround. The 50 acres of gardens and grounds at the mansion are open to the public for walking Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Booklets and maps of the grounds are available at the Dinkelspiel House. Free.

GUIDED TOURS -- Docent-led tours are available on the first Sunday of each month at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. (except for July) and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. $5 adults, $4 seniors and juniors (11-16), children 11 and under free.

LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE"NanoZone," ongoing. Discover the science of the super-small: nanotechnology. Through hands-on activities and games, explore this microworld and the scientific discoveries made in this area.

"Forces That Shape the Bay," ongoing. A science park that shows and explains why the San Francisco Bay is the way it is, with information on water, erosion, plate tectonics and mountain building. You can ride earthquake simulators, set erosion in motion and look far out into the bay with a powerful telescope from 1,100 feet above sea level. The center of the exhibit is a waterfall that demonstrates how water flows from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Bay. Visitors can control where the water goes. There are also hands-on erosion tables, and a 40-foot-long, 6-foothigh, rock compression wall.

"Real Astronomy Experience," ongoing. A new exhibit-in-development allowing visitors to use the tools that real astronomers use. Aim a telescope at a virtual sky and operate a remote-controlled telescope to measure a planet.

MCCONAGHY HOUSE The McConaghy Estate includes a 12-room farmhouse, tank house and carriage house. The home is furnished in the style of 1886, the date the house was built. The McConaghy House is one of the facilities of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. The Hayward Area Historical Society maintains the house and provides volunteer tour guides who give public tours when the house is open. The last tour leaves at 3:30 p.m.

"A Star Spangled Christmas," through Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.; 1-4 p.m. Sun. Every year the McConaghy House is transformed for the Christmas Holiday; this year the house will be decked out in patriotic ornaments and decorations. $3-$5.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE ongoing. Exploring cinema from the Bay Area and cultures around the world, the Pacific Film Archive offers daily film screenings, including rare and rediscovered prints of movie classics; new and historic works by world famous directors; restored silent films with live musical accompaniment; retrospectives; and new and experimental works. Check Web site for a full schedule of films.

"First Impressions: Free First Thursdays," first Thursday of every month. Special tours and movie presentations. Admission is free.

"Lunch Poems," ongoing. 12:10-12:50 p.m. First Thursdays of each month

2600 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-3671.

USS HORNET MUSEUM Come aboard this World War II aircraft carrier that has been converted into a floating museum. The Hornet, launched in 1943, is 899 feet long and 27 stories high. During World War II she was never hit by an enemy strike or plane and holds the Navy record for number of enemy planes shot down in a week. In 1969 the Hornet recovered the Apollo 11 space capsule containing the first men to walk on the moon, and later recovered Apollo 12. In 1991 the Hornet was designated a National Historic Landmark and is now docked at the same pier she sailed from in 1944. Today, visitors can tour the massive ship, view World War II-era warplanes and experience a simulated aircraft launch from the carrier's deck. Exhibits are being added on an ongoing basis. Allow two to three hours for a visit. Wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to climb steep stairs or ladders. Dress in layers as the ship can be cold. Arrive no later than 2 p.m. to sign up for the engine room and other docent-led tours. Children under age 12 are not allowed in the Engine Room or the Combat Information Center. "Limited Access Day," ongoing. Due to ship maintenance, tours of the navigation bridge and the engine room are not available. Tuesdays.

"Flight Deck Fun," ongoing. A former Landing Signal Officer will show children how to bring in a fighter plane for a landing on the deck then let them try the signals themselves. Times vary. Free with regular Museum admission.

"Protestant Divine Services," ongoing. Hornet chaplain John Berger conducts church services aboard The Hornet in the Wardroom Lounge. Everyone is welcome and refreshments are served immediately following the service. Sundays, 11 a.m.Closed on New Year's Day.

"Family Day," ongoing. Discounted admission for families of four with a further discount for additional family members. Access to some of the areas may be limited due to ship maintenance. Every Tuesday. $20 for family of four; $5 for each additional family member.

"History Mystery After Hours Tour," ongoing. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Explore the USS Hornet after hours and learn the history of this ship while it is illuminated in red lights used for "night ops." Also, hear stories about the ships' legendary haunts. Reservations required. (510) 521-8448 X282.

"Flashlight Tour," ongoing. 8:30 a.m. Receive a special tour of areas aboard the ship that have not yet been opened to the public or that have limited access during the day. $30-$35 per person.

"Spark! Circus Benefit Show," Dec. 10, 8 p.m. Event features a dozen circus acts, a live band, and more; all benefitting an outreach circus that performs for children in refugee camps, hospitals and more. $10-$20.

"BERKELEY ARTISANS HOLIDAY OPEN STUDIOS," -- through Dec. 19. More than 100 artists and craftspeople will be showing their works, including glass, ceramics, furniture, photography, paintings, and much more.

Free.11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun.www.berkeleyartisans.com.

"BERKELEY POTTER'S GUILD HOLIDAY EXHIBITION," -- through Dec. 24. A diverse array of pottery and sculpture will be available at this annual sale and show. Event takes place at 731 Jones St., Berkeley.

Free.10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun.www.berkeleyptters.com.

"HOLIDAY HOME TOUR," -- Dec. 10 and Dec. 11. Tour five beautifully decorated homes in the Danville and Alamo area; call or see website for more details.

$25-$35.10 a.m.-4 p.m.(925) 788-1698, www.aauw-da.org.

CARMEN FLORES RECREATION CENTER

"El Corazon de la Communidad: The Heart of the Community", ongoing. Painted by Joaquin Alejandro Newman, this mural installation consists of four 11-foot panels that mix ancient Meso-American and contemporary imagery to pay homage to local activists Carmen Flores and Josie de la Cruz.

LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE"NanoZone," ongoing. Discover the science of the super-small: nanotechnology. Through hands-on activities and games, explore this microworld and the scientific discoveries made in this area.

"Forces That Shape the Bay," ongoing. A science park that shows and explains why the San Francisco Bay is the way it is, with information on water, erosion, plate tectonics and mountain building. You can ride earthquake simulators, set erosion in motion and look far out into the bay with a powerful telescope from 1,100 feet above sea level. The center of the exhibit is a waterfall that demonstrates how water flows from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Bay. Visitors can control where the water goes. There are also hands-on erosion tables, and a 40-foot-long, 6-foothigh, rock compression wall.

"Real Astronomy Experience," ongoing. A new exhibit-in-development allowing visitors to use the tools that real astronomers use. Aim a telescope at a virtual sky and operate a remote-controlled telescope to measure a planet.

"Kapla," ongoing. The hands-on exhibit features thousands of versatile building blocks that can be used to build very large, high and stable structures and models of bridges, buildings, animals or anything else your mind can conceive.

LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM This is the oldest and largest wildlife rehabilitation center in America, taking in 6,000 injured and orphaned animals yearly and returning 40 percent of them to the wild. The museum offers a wide range of educational programs using non-releasable wild animals to teach children and adults respect for the balance of nature. The museum includes a state-of-the art wildlife hospital which features a permanent exhibit, titled "Living with Nature,'' which houses 75 non-releasable wild animals in learning environments; a 5,000-square-foot Wildlife Hospital complete with treatment rooms, intensive care, quarantine and laboratory facilities; a 1-acre Nature Garden featuring the region's native landscaping and wildlife; and an "Especially For Children'' exhibit.

WILDLIFE HOSPITAL -- September-March: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The hospital is open daily including holidays to receive injured and orphaned animals. There is no charge for treatment of native wild animals and there are no public viewing areas in the hospital.Ongoing.

"Oakland's 19th-Century San Pablo Avenue Chinatown," ongoing. A permanent exhibit of new findings about the rediscovered Chinatown on San Pablo Avenue. The exhibit aims to inform visitors about the upcoming archaeological work planned to explore the lives of early Chinese pioneers in the 1860s.

"Going Away, Coming Home," ongoing. A 160-foot public art installation by Mills College art professor Hung Liu. Liu hand painted 80 red-crowned cranes onto 65 panels of glass that were then fired, tempered and paired with background panes that depict views of a satellite photograph, ranging from the western United States to the Asia Pacific Area. Terminal 2.

"CANDLESTICK PARK ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES FAIRE," -- Dec. 19. More than 500 booths of antiques and collectibles will be available to browse at this huge show. Event takes place in the parking lot at Candlestick Park, San Francisco.

$5-$10.6 a.m.-3 p.m.www.candlestickantiques.com.

"SUN SPHERES," -- ongoing. "Sun Spheres'' is a trio of mosaic sculptures by artist Laurel True at the intersection of Ocean and Granada Avenues in the OMI District of San Francisco.

"KPFA Crafts Fair," Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. A wide array of local artists and craftspeople share their work at this 40th annual event. $8-$10; children under 17. www.kpfa.org.

635 Eighth St., San Francisco.

DE YOUNG MUSEUM The art museum has now reopened in a new facility designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron and Fong and Chan Architects in San Francisco. It features significant collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries; modern and contemporary art; art from Central and South America, the Pacific and Africa; and an important and diverse collection of textiles.

"The Art and Spirit of the Creche," Dec. 11, 2:15 p.m. An art lecture from Kate Sculti. Free.

EVENING GALLERY WALKS These monthly evening gallery walks or "crawls'' are a way to learn about art for the casual viewer without the intimidation of visiting a gallery with no one else around. Generally the galleries are filled on the "walk'' evenings with people drinking wine and talking. Gallery owners are happy to answer questions about the art on view. The important thing to remember is that it is free to gaze and drink.

"First Thursday," ongoing. 5:30-8 p.m. Generally some 20 galleries participate in this monthly evening of open galleries. Many are located around Union Square. Some of the galleries that participate on a regular basis are Pasquale Iannetti Gallery, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, and Hackett-Freedman Gallery, all on Sutter Street; Meyerovich Gallery and Dolby Chadwick Gallery on Post Street; and Rena Bransten Gallery and Stephen Wirtz Gallery on Geary Street. Sponsored by the San Francisco Art Dealers Association. First Thursday of the month. Free.

"The Digital Liberation of G-d," ongoing. A permanent interactive media installation created by New York-based artist Helene Aylon, which examines the influences of patriarchal attitudes upon Jewish traditions and sacred texts.

"Digging Deep: Underneath San Francisco Public Library," ongoing. Exhibition collects archaeological remains from the Gold Rush-era cemetery and the ruins of old City Hall destroyed in the 1906 earthquake.